In the coming months, British champion Callum Johnson (17-0, 12 KOs) will get the biggest challenge of his entire career, when he faces IBF light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev (12-0, 12 KOs).

Inactivity could be an issue in the contest. Johnson has only fought one round since September of 2016.

Back in March at the O2 Arena in London, Johnson showed his class by stopped Frank Buglioni in the very first round.

Beterbiev has not been over active himself.

He's been out of the ring since capturing the vacant IBF title with a twelfth round stoppage over Enrico Koelling in the last round of their bout from November 2017 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

It was Beterbiev's first bout in nearly a year.

Lately he's been inactive while attempting to break his promotional agreement with Yvon Michel. The Canadian promoter won a recent decision to uphold his contract, and Beterbiev is appealing.

Despite the legal rift, a deal for Beterbiev-Johnson was reached on Tuesday. Both sides agreed on the date of October 6th, with the contest possibly taking place in New York or Chicago.

Johnson’s trainer, the very experienced Joe Gallagher, is fully aware of the tough task at hand.

He views Beterbiev as the light heavyweight version of Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin, who rules the middleweight division.

Beterbiev has a fearsome reputation, but it's not enough to intimidate Johnson.

“We’re going to fight one of the hardest punchers in world boxing. Everyone goes on about ‘GGG’ but this is the ‘GGG’ of the light-heavyweights. Obviously you’ve got [Dmitry] Bivol in there as well, [Adonis] Stevenson, and now you’ve also got Beterbiev," Gallagher told Boxing News.

"Callum Johnson, there’s no fear in him. He’s coming off a fantastic win over Frank Buglioni and I’ve always known he’s a powerful puncher. He was a good amateur, he fought Russians on the amateur circuit.”