Dmitry Bivol spent most of 2026 as a champion with a queue of mandatory challengers and no fights to show for it. That changed this week, and the December calendar moved with it.
Bivol vs Callum Smith Is Finally Official
Bivol will defend his unified light heavyweight titles against Callum Smith on December 12 at the UMMC Arena in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The bout was ordered as a WBO mandatory defence, and it took a little under two months to get regulatory approval to stage it on Russian soil. It is the same arena where Bivol returned in May from a 15-month layoff with a points win over Michael Eifert.
Smith, 36, is the harder sell. He has not boxed since beating Joshua Buatsi in February 2025, which makes it nearly 22 months by the time he walks in, and his only previous shot at 175 pounds ended with Artur Beterbiev stopping him in the seventh round in January 2024. The rust is a fair question, and fighting in Russia while the UK government advises against all travel there is another one.
Bivol, 35, was blunt this week about what he wants next: Beterbiev, Canelo and Benavidez, the only three names he considers big enough. I still think Smith lasts longer than the odds will suggest.
Tszyu Gets His Middleweight Title Shot
No Limit Boxing announced that Tim Tszyu will challenge Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight title, with Fox Sports AU reporting the fight is expected in late November and a strong possibility that it lands on the Gold Coast.
Lara is boxing’s oldest reigning champion at 43, but he has not fought since a December decision over Johan Gonzalez, and a three-belt unification with Janibek Alimkhanuly collapsed last year when Alimkhanuly tested positive for meldonium. Lara has been feasting on lesser opposition for years, and a 43-year-old sharpshooter against a younger man who still throws with bad intentions is the kind of style clash that has produced his best nights.
Tszyu has rebuilt himself at 160 pounds after a 1-3 slide at super welterweight cost him the WBO belt. Wins over Anthony Velazquez and Denis Nurja steadied him, and a wide decision over Errol Spence Jr. in July handed him a title shot he did not have a year ago. If you want one fight on the December schedule where the age gap decides the outcome, this is it. I am picking Tszyu by late stoppage.
Wilder Is Chasing Two Fights and Holding Neither
Deontay Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel says they have accepted an offer for Wilder to face Jai Opetaia in the co-feature of the Fury-Joshua card, the all-British heavyweight fight signed for Cardiff on December 11, and are waiting on confirmation. Finkel also confirmed talks about a WBA heavyweight title shot at Murat Gassiev.
The Opetaia version carries no belt. Gassiev, who won the WBA regular title by stopping Kubrat Pulev in December 2025 and was later elevated to full champion, would be a title fight. Wilder is 40 and has spent two years being discussed as an opponent rather than a contender. Neither fight is signed, and that is the point.
Keyshawn Davis Says It Is Done. Hitchins Says He Is Still Waiting.
Keyshawn Davis posted that a December fight with Richardson Hitchins is agreed, calling it personal and promising to show up ready. Hitchins’ response was less romantic: he says he accepted the fight more than a month ago and still has no contract in hand.
Hitchins is aligned with Zuffa now and badly needs a credible name to move his career forward. Davis needs a return that matters. Both need their promoters to produce paperwork, and until that happens this is a social media fight.
This Weekend: Two Cards Worth the Alarm
- Daniel Dubois vs Fabio Wardley 2 — The O2 in London, for Dubois’ WBO heavyweight title. The first fight in May was one of the best heavyweight title fights in years: Dubois was dropped twice, including ten seconds in, and still stopped Wardley in the 11th with Wardley’s right eye nearly shut. The bookmakers have Dubois at around 1/4 and Wardley out past 27/10, which is roughly how the heavyweight hierarchy has been priced all autumn.
- Sebastian Fundora vs Ermal Hadribeaj — Las Vegas, for Fundora’s WBC super welterweight title. Chief support is Brandon Figueroa defending his WBA featherweight belt against Tomoki Kameda. Jermall Charlo is out again with a training injury, so Armando Resendiz faces Koen Mazoudier instead.
- Looking further out: Emanuel Navarrete vs O’Shaquie Foster with three junior lightweight belts on the line on October 24, Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello in Sheffield the same night, and Canelo Alvarez vs Christian Mbilli in Riyadh on October 31, still on after Canelo’s Riyadh date wobbled last week. Turki Alalshikh says Canelo called him to confirm he fights regardless. That is a promoter relaying a phone call, not a sanctioning body signing off, so treat the date as likely rather than certain.
The Filipino Corner: Two World Title Shots in Tokyo
If I were writing for a Philippine paper, this is the lead. On November 26 at the Ebara Wave Arena in Ota City, Tokyo, two Filipino fighters challenge for world titles on the same card. Miel Fajardo gets his IBF flyweight shot at champion Masamichi Yabuki. Zyvyr Medecilo, 21 and ranked No. 11 by the WBA at minimumweight, challenges Takeshi Ishii. Both are managed by Hong Kong’s Lennon Tsoi, both will train together at the Elorde Sports Center in Sucat from this week, and both fly to Tokyo on November 20.
Medecilo is the unknown quantity and the more intriguing one. He is 9-0 with five knockouts, and he won a WBC International belt in May with a ninth-round stoppage in front of a home crowd. Ishii won the WBA minimumweight title in September with a 65-second knockout of Wilfredo Mendez, the fastest world title knockout ever recorded in Japan. He can genuinely punch, and Medecilo is taking a serious step up in class.
Fajardo earned his mandatory position earlier this year and has spent the past month in Hong Kong on a strength and conditioning camp. Win both fights and the Philippines goes from one reigning world champion, Pedro Taduran, to three in a single night. That is a sentence I did not expect to write in 2026, and it is why I flagged Martin’s Riyadh eliminator and Fajardo’s Tokyo date when they first landed. The card is Inoue’s Ohashi Promotions staging a double header, so these two fights will be seen by exactly the audience that pays attention to the lower weight classes. If you are Filipino like me, that is worth more than any rankings update.
The Bottom Line
Bivol has a date and a mandatory he should handle. Tszyu has the title shot he has spent two years earning. The Philippines has two fighters one night away from doubling its world champion count. Add Dubois vs Wardley 2 on Saturday and the next six weeks are loaded.
I will be up late Saturday for the O2 and early Sunday for whatever comes out of Tokyo.