Callum Smith is on the verge of another world title shot, this time against Dmitry Bivol.
Smith is now 36 years old and is the current WBO interim light heavyweight ruler, who won the belt against Joshua Buatsi with a unanimous decision win back in February last year.
Before then, he had fought for the unified light heavyweight titles but lost by TKO to Artur Beterbiev, who then lost to Bivol, who became the undisputed champion. Smith is also a former WBA super middleweight champion and has previously lost to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
As for Bivol, he became undisputed light heavyweight champion after defeating Beterbiev last year, but has only fought once since then and vacated the WBC belt, before returning after a lengthy absence to beat mandatory challenger Michael Eifert in May.
It appeared he could be set for a trilogy with Beterbiev but now another mandatory defence against Smith seems to be the plan, and speaking to DAZN, Matchroom promoter Hearn was asked how negotiations were progressing for the fight.
“I’m pretty sure that’s going to be the next fight for both men. We’re in talks now with both teams to secure the fight for both teams towards the back end of the year.
“It’s been a very frustrating period for Callum with injury when he was supposed to fight Morell, but now he’s got the big one against Dmitry Bivol and that’s the fight you’ll see next for both guys.”
He was then pressed for details on the location of the contest.
“I think more likely it will be in Russia. Dimitri is a big name, big pound-for-pound star, there’s a lot of interest in bringing him back to Russia.
“Callum will travel. He’s done it before. He won his world championship in Saudi Arabia; he fought for the light heavyweight champion of the world in Canada. He’s happy to go to Russia.”
Smith has indeed fought on the road before, most notably beating George Groves in the final of the World Super Series in Jeddah back in 2018, although Groves had previously suffered a shoulder injury and never fought again.
