Buatsi vs Calic: Dmitry Bivol open to defending world title against Joshua Buatsi

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Dmitry Bivol would welcome a world title defence in the UK against Joshua Buatsi.

Rising contender Buatsi aims to extend his unbeaten record to 13-0 on Sunday night, live on Sky Sports, against Marko Calic.

He already has the attention of Russia's undefeated WBA light-heavyweight champion Bivol, who told Sky Sports about Buatsi: "Good boxer, if it made sense and the fans want to see this fight, I am always open to fighting anybody."

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Asked if he would put his belt on the line in the UK, Bivol responded: "Why not?"

Bivol's manager Vadim Kornilov has also told Sky Sports that Buatsi could be part of their future plans.

"We are working on a return fight for Dmitry at the end of the year," said Kornilov.

"We would definitely entertain a fight versus Joshua Buatsi."

Bivol's Russian rival Artur Beterbiev holds two world titles

Assessing the division's top talent, Buatsi told Sky Sports: "Artur Beterbiev holds the most belts, the IBF and WBC, Bivol has the WBA and Sergey Kovalev reigned for a long time but lost to Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. It depends how you want to assess who is the most dominant force.

"Based on age, Bivol is No 1. He is the youngest of the champions and, based on that, he is fresher."

Buatsi is the No 3-ranked contender in the WBA rankings.

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His rival Anthony Yarde came up short in a brave attempt to claim Sergey Kovalev's world title and Buatsi could target Bivol, one of Russia's other champions, for his first title shot.

Bivol, who has beaten Joe Smith Jr and Jean Pascal, hopes to return to action by the end of the year and "the most desired fight for us" would be a unification bout against Artur Beterbiev, who holds the IBF and WBC belts.

"One of the bigger fights where two top Russian world champions would decide who is the best," Bivol said.

"Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is one of the options that has been brought up to us and I would be interested in the fight.

"There are many other options that are not less meaningful to me than fighting Canelo.

"My goal is to unify all of the world titles in the light-heavyweight division.

"I am hoping that fights with Beterbiev and the future WBO champion will materialise in the next couple of years as well.

"I am also interested in fighting the top boxers in my division as well as in the 168lbs (super-middleweight) weight class including Мarcus Browne, Badou Jack, David Benavidez, and others."

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