If that happens, Smith would have his WBO interim belt upgraded and Hearn would like him to defend the full world title against his former opponent, Joshua Buatsi.

Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) and Buatsi (20-1, 13 KOs) first met in February 2025 and produced one of the best fights of the year. Smith won a unanimous decision after 12 violent rounds.

Buatsi has boxed once since — a close decision win over Zach Parker in October — whilst Smith has been inactive. The 35-year-old Liverpudlian had been due to defend his interim title against Cuba’s David Morrell in April but was ruled out by a rib injury.

Morrell’s subsequent shock defeat to Zak Chelli took him out of the running for a fight with Smith, and with Buatsi ranked at No. 2 by the WBO a rematch would be a natural.

“The WBO have ordered that fight between Callum Smith and Dmitrii Bivol,” Hearn said during the DAZN broadcast of Josh Padley’s decision win over Aqib Fiaz in Sheffield.

“Bivol’s coming off a solid 12 rounds against Michael Eifert and really looking to jump in a mega fight. Listen, I like Bivol against Callum Smith — I'd love to make the fight — but Bivol is looking at the potential of the trilogy with Artur Beterbiev or a David Benavidez fight. If he does that, he'll have to vacate the title, and if he does that we'll get the rematch of the fight of the year between Callum Smith and Buatsi for the world title.

“And that, incidentally, could be a cracking fight to land on the, not the 5 vs. 5, but the 7 vs. 7 against Queensberry coming up.”

The first Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5 vs. 5 show took place in Saudi Arabia in June 2024 and was an enormous success.

The unique format of the event and some creative pre-fight publicity captured the imagination of British boxing fans who bought into the competition between the bitter rivals from the moment it was announced.

Queensberry scored a clean sweep, but in the aftermath both promotional powerhouses acknowledged just how big the whole event had been.

Since then, relations have thawed between the parties but a future rerun has been a constant topic of conversation.

Talk has intensified in recent weeks and it seems likely that an extended version of the format will be agreed before the end of the year.

"We've wanted our revenge for two years,” Hearn said. “It’s time and I've been talking to George Warren a lot this week about the lineup for that. There are probably a dozen fights that can get made and we'll definitely need more than five, there’s no doubt about that, so whether you're going to see an emergence of a 7 v. 7.

"What an event it was. As painful as it was, I watch it back and I just think what a structure, what a format, what an event for the fans, and I think that if we do that in the UK in October, November, British fight fans are going to be overjoyed."