Dmitry Bivol faces a significant decision regarding his WBO light heavyweight title, with Eddie Hearn confirming the champion must choose between pursuing a trilogy with Artur Beterbiev or defending against WBO interim titleholder Callum Smith.
Hearn spoke to BoxingScene about the situation, noting that Bivol cannot have both options.
Dmitry wants the biggest fights in the sport, he’s had his little run out against Eifert — his mandatory — and now he’s got to decide if he’s going to fight Callum Smith or vacate the WBO. There’s a lot of interest in the Beterbiev fight in Russia, it’s a fight that’s important to Dmitry. I think the Benavidez fight is a great fight but so is the Callum Smith fight and obviously it’s interesting having both those guys as our clients. So we’ve got to see what’s next, and if he vacates, Callum Smith will be elevated to full champion. Not what he would have wanted but he’ll go out and defend that against a big name. So I think that’ll be decided in the coming weeks.
Bivol currently holds the unified WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles. He lost his WBC strap last year for choosing to pursue the Beterbiev trilogy over a mandatory defense. The two have split their first two fights. Bivol returned last month from a year out with a lopsided win over Michael Eifert. Should Bivol vacate the WBO, Callum Smith would be elevated to full champion, with Joshua Buatsi — whom Smith beat in a fight of the year candidate last year — likely ordered as the mandatory.
