Earlier this week, the WBO ordered negotiations to begin between The Ring, IBF, WBA and WBO light heavyweight champion Bivol and interim beltholder Smith, Bivol’s mandatory and No. 1 contender.

Hall of Fame fighter-turned-coach Buddy McGirt has trained Smith over the last five years and five fights following the former 168-pound champion’s loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2020.

McGirt likes his charges' chances better against Bivol, The Ring’s No. 6-ranked P4P fighter. 

“Callum will rise to the occasion for this fight against Bivol, without a doubt,” McGirt told The Ring.

“Callum will beat Bivol with what he’s capable of. Bivol can fight, but it’s what Callum can do... he's long, rangy and can catch Bivol when he’s bouncing in and out. Callum just has to be ready to fire.”

Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) has been on the sidelines since suffering an injury in April forcing him to withdraw from a David Morrell headline fight less than two weeks before their April 18 scheduled date. That would've ended a 14-month layoff, having won a February 2025 war against Joshua Buatsi for the WBO interim title he now holds.

Round six in the Smith-Buatsi bout was a candidate for Round of the Year.

Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs), meanwhile, returned from back surgery in May for what essentially amounted to a tune-up fight against Michael Eifert as the Russian easily cruised to a shutout decision win against his outmatched IBF mandatory challenger.

The fight marked Bivol’s first outing since moving on from two tough tilts against Beterbiev in which they both traded majority decision wins. Beterbiev, who stopped Smith in a January 2024 title defense, beat Bivol in October 2024 but lost in February last year.

Eifert was nowhere near the same zip code in providing Bivol with some semblance of a test, landing a mind-numbingly low 12 punches in 12 rounds.

“Bivol fights to the capacity of his opponent,” McGirt said. “If his opponent's good, you're gonna get the best. If the opponent is mediocre, you're going to get a mediocre performance. Bivol does just enough to win against mediocre guys. When the opponent is a star, he rises to the occasion.” 

So what’s the gameplan for Smith to beat Bivol? 

“It's an ancient Chinese secret,” McGirt said with a hearty laugh.

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.