WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol (17-0,11 KOs) wants to fight Ghanaian-British hard puncher Joshua Buatsi (12-0, 10 KOs) should the opportunity present itself.
The Russian boxer made these comments after securing a dominant unanimous decision victory over Lenin Castillo from the Dominican Republic at the Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
“I like UK fans, because they love boxing. I would love to fight him [Buatsi]. Why not? He’s a good fighter, and he’s a bronze medalist in the Olympic games. If he’s mandatory, I would give him a chance, because he has a good name. Why not, yeah.” Bivol responded when quizzed if he’d be willing to come to the UK to defend his WBA title against Joshua Buatsi.
“Yeah, I understand he’s getting to be one of the best light heavyweights, and I would like to give him a chance if I will not get a chance to fight for another belt. Of course, I prefer to fight for another belt. Everyone wants to move up, and not fight with the same like him or worse,” Bivol stated.
“He got the punch, and was knocked down, but he recovered fast. Yeah, why not? It’s a good fight, and he’s getting famous in the UK.” He expressed
Buatsi, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist is set to fight the current number 8 rated fighter according to the WBA in Blake Caparello (30-3-1, 13 KOs) on November 2 in a World Boxing Association 175-lb world title eliminator. Whiles a possible victory will see him become the mandatory challenger to Bivol. Many doubts if business minded Eddie Hearn would sanction such a fight for their future cash cow Buatsi at this earlier.