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WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is not simply looking to fight just anyone.
Because of the ongoing corornavirus pandemic, some fighters want to stay busy by facing any available foe, but Bivol is only looking to return against a solid opponent.
Bivol, with an undefeated record of 17 wins (11 by knockout), has been out of the ring since October of 2019, when he made a voluntary defense by defeating Lenin Castillo from the Dominican Republic.
Bivol is very interested in facing the top names in his division – like WBC, IBF champion Artur Beterbiev, unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez and the winner of Joe Smith vs. Maxim Vlasov, who will battle for the vacant WBO title in February.
And he’s even mentioned the possibility of moving down to the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds for a clash with Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who next Saturday night will face the WBA’s champion at 168, Callum Smith.
Bivol will wait it out and pursue a top name at the start of 2021.
“We expected that in 2020, [due to the coronavirus pandemic], it would not be possible to stage a fight. It seems that we are waiting for 2021 and we are aiming to fight in the first half of the spring. There is no exact information on the opponents yet,” Bivol said to Vasiliy Konov.
“I’m not motivated to simply request just any kind of fight – I want to have a good fight. And I understand the whole situation right now, that there are no options to meet with someone from the top ten of our weight division. And I don’t really want to fight for the sake of fighting.
“Right now I need to wait. I’m not alone in believing in a bright future. I believe that at the beginning of next year I will receive an interesting offer.”