Hearn claims Bivol will vacate WBO title.
Dmitry Bivol is one of the purest technicians in the entire boxing world. A man who has beaten Canelo Álvarez, Artur Beterbiev, and Gilberto Ramirez (three of the best fighters across as many weight classes), he is considered one of the best pound-for-pound talents of the modern era.
As the unified light-heavyweight champion, he currently owns three world titles, one of which (the IBF) he successfully defended in May against mandatory challenger Michael Eifert.
After that had been taken care of, fans were hoping for a trilogy against Beterbiev or an undisputed match with David Benavidez, who picked up Bivol’s vacated WBC title.
These hopes were dashed, though, when Bivol was ordered to defend his WBO title against interim beltholder and mandatory challenger Callum Smith.
Smith is a former unified super-middleweight champion who looked like a force at 175 pounds before he was bludgeoned into defeat by Beterbiev. Since then, though, he has defeated Joshua Buatsi to become WBO interim champion.
The Buatsi win was over a year ago, and Smith hasn’t been in the ring since. Not that that’s his fault, though, as a planned bout against David Morrell fell through this April.
However, in the opinion of Eddie Hearn, Smith may be jumping straight into title action against an opponent who isn’t Bivol.
“Vadim Kornilov [Bivol’s manager] and Bivol have told me to please begin negotiations with Umar Kremlev [the IBA president] or RCC Boxing Promotions. We’re ready to make the Beterbiev fight. That’s the fight Dmitry wants”, Hearn stated to The Ring. “Dmitry is due to fight Callum Smith. I think it’s unlikely he’ll defend against Smith. I think Smith will fight Joshua Buatsi for the vacant title, but Bivol is ready to make the Beterbiev fight.”
Should things turn out this way, Britain will be getting a new light-heavyweight champion in a very interesting rematch of Smith and Buatsi’s first encounter.
Eddie Hearn has told The Ring that he believes Dmitry Bivol will vacate his WBO light-heavyweight title and pursue a trilogy with Artur Beterbiev, which could lead to Callum Smith rematching Joshua Buatsi for the vacant title 👀 pic.twitter.com/1EeWdBTy0W
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) July 21, 2026
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