Dmitry Bivol is preparing for his next fight after Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez chose to set up a trilogy rematch with Gennadiy Golovkin.
Alvarez and Bivol fought on May 7 for the undefeated fighters’ WBA light-heavyweight belt, and he retained his unbeaten streak with a unanimous decision win, leaving the Mexican with a decision to make.
Canelo had to decide whether to rematch Bivol or instead go back to his original plan of a third fight against the unified middleweight champion from Kazakhstan. Ultimately he chose a September 17 clash with ‘GGG’ to be shown live on DAZN.
There is no confirmed rematch for Bivol and Canelo, and now the champion is getting back to training in preparation for the next challenge.
One potential opponent is Joshua Buatsi, who beat Craig Richards at the weekend in an eliminator to decide who would become the mandatory challenger for the WBA, though the governing body is yet to order any fight for Bivol so soon after his last bout.
"Dmitry has begun his preparations for the next fight already. But it is impossible to say, who will be the next person to fight with - we have just begun to think about it, " Bivol's promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy said to Sky Sports.
"I believe in Dmitry. Today he is definitely one of the best fighters in the world because of the combination of his physical conditions, his abilities to concentrate on the result and his technique."
Bivol’s name has also been mentioned in proposed fights with Gilberto Ramirez, and an obvious match-up would be against the winner of Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr., which would decide an undisputed light-heavyweight champion.