The WBA Light heavyweight champion, Dmitry Bivol will defend his title against the challenger American Joe Smith Jr. in March this year.
Bivol has the career record of 15-0 and won his last of the fourth deference title fight against the former unified champion Jean Pascal in November of 2018. Bivol won his title back in 2017 as he defeated the former titleholder Trent Broadhurst by a knockout.
The Russian fighter has now signed a promotion deal with the “Matchroom Boxing USA” for setting the date and venue of the fight. The news was confirmed by Bivol at a press conference on Friday.
As for the Long Island boxer Smith Jr., he has a career record of 24-2, 20 of which are knockout wins. Smith Jr. defeated Bernard Hopkins in what was the last fight for the Philadelphia great back in 2016. Six months earlier, Smith Jr. also defeated Andrzej Fonfara in the opening round.
Smith Jr. said to media, “Everything I have done so far inside the gym and outside the gym is to make myself better and become a world champion. All my hard work is going to pay off come fight night.
Bivol said to the media about his upcoming fight, “I am very excited finally to meet Joe in the ring. I watched both his fight against Fonfara and Hopkins live and since then I have always wanted to test out my skills against him.”
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