WBO president confirms Bivol won’t be fighting Beterbiev or Benavidez next.
It was in February of last year that Dmitry Bivol defeated Artur Beterbiev in their rematch, lifting the undisputed light-heavyweight crown and cementing himself as the very best in the division.
Despite many calls for a trilogy, the two have not fought since that night. However, unlike Beterbiev, Bivol has a scheduled date he is set to return on.
Next week, Bivol will be defending against IBF mandatory challenger Michael Eifert in his homeland of Russia, appearing after over a year out of the ring due to surgery on his back.
It was this surgery that forced him to give up his WBC title after being ordered to fight David Benavidez, who promptly took the belt for himself and successfully defended it against Anthony Yarde.
As a result of that, Bivol currently holds three titles instead of four, and the public have been very vocal about either a third fight with Beterbiev or an undisputed match against Benavidez after his expected victory over Eifert.
Benavidez ventured up to cruiserweight earlier this month and took out Gilberto Ramirez (whose only previous loss had been a decision to Bivol), the victim of a six-round drubbing that lost him his unified championship.
However, Benavidez has stated that his time at light-heavyweight is not done, and he has explicitly called out both Bivol and Beterbiev and stated his desire to face them.
And while a Bivol-Benavidez bout for all the marbles is one everyone would want to see, it has just had yet another hurdle placed in front of it.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri stated yesterday that after Bivol’s fight with Eifert, Callum Smith will be enforced as mandatory challenger.
Smith is the current WBO interim light-heavyweight champion and was due to defend his strap against David Morrell last month. However, Smith would pull out of the fight with an injury, leaving Morrell without an opponent.
But in what was supposed to be a tick-over fight, Morrell fought Zak Chelli on the Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois undercard just under two weeks ago. Shockingly, Morrell ended up being stopped in the very last round.
While it was assumed by some that Chelli would next face Smith, that has turned out to not be the case. Rather, Smith will seemingly instead be getting his title shot without a fight in the meantime.
Smith last appeared in the ring when he defeated Joshua Buatsi, a bout that featured on the Bivol vs. Beterbiev 2 undercard.
Hello, Sir. The WBO will enforce Smith as Mandatory for Bivol after Eifert. Regards.
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) May 21, 2026
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