By Steve Kim
On March 3rd, Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) successfully defended his WBA light heavyweight title by stopping the durable Sullivan Barrera in the twelfth round at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It was the second defense of the title after Bivol scored a first round knockout over Trent Broadhurst last November in Monte Carlo.
They are now on the hunt for a new opponent for the boxer's next televised appearance on HBO.
One opponent they had in mind was undefeated contender Eleider Alvarez, who was having an extremely hard time securing his mandatory shot at WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson.
However, last week it was announced that Alvarez would be facing Sergey Kovalev for the WBO 175-pound title on a card that will take place in the summer months.
So what's next?
His manager, Vadim Kornilov, tells BoxingScene.com - "We're working together with HBO, Main Events and World of Boxing on the next fight, trying to get the best opponent we can.(Elieder) Alvarez was one option before the (Sergey) Kovalev-Marcus Browne fight fell apart. So now it looks like Kovalev will be fighting Alvarez and now we have to look for a new opponent and we're just basically sending offers to whoever wants to get a chance for the world title against Bivol and it's been tough."
All is not lost, as the current plan is for Bivol to be part of the opening bout on the Kovalev vs. Alvarez telecast.
"So we're just trying to see who we can find," said Kornilov. ''It looks like the show will happen in July or August."
HBO is hoping that the winners of the upcoming light heavyweight doubleheader will collide in the near future in a unification encounter.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
