Dmitry Bivol has shown an 'interest' in fighting Artur Beterbiev after watching him bash the living daylights out of Joe Smith Jr.

The Russian brawler, 37, became a three-belt unified light heavyweight champion after stopping the American in two rounds.

And right away, talk has turned as to what could be next for Beterbiev, who is boxing's only world champion with a 100 per cent KO ratio.

Bivol's promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy, who has also worked with Denis Lebedev and Alexander Povetkin in the past, admits he was surprised at just how quickly Beterbiev dealt with Smith Jr.

Ryabinskiy told BoxingScene.com: "I did not expect such a quick end to the fight.

"I thought that the fight would drag on until the eighth or ninth round. But this is just my subjective opinion, and the match showed that Artur Beterbiev is in very, very good form. He had a great fight and confidently won. Artur is great, he looked great in battle.

“We have an interest in organizing a fight between Beterbiev and Bivol. I don’t know if it will be possible to organize it in Russia. It would be quite difficult to do. We’ll see, I can’t tell you everything yet. But I’m sure everyone wants to see this fight. And so do we."

artur-beterbiev-joe-smith-jr-celebration
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 18: Artur Beterbiev celebrates after defeating Joe Smith Jr, during their WBC,IBF and WBO light heavyweight Championship fight, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 18, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Artur Beterbiev celebrates after beating Joe Smith Jr

Bivol, 31, hasn't set foot inside the ring since cruising to victory over Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in May.

The Russian had been expected to meet Canelo Alvarez in a rematch early next year, but Top Rank president Todd DuBoef wants to pair him up with his man Beterbiev.

Top Rank CEO DuBoef, who is also the step-son of legendary Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, also mentioned Anthony Yarde and Gilberto Ramirez as two possible options for Beterbiev.

Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "We've over the years had conversations about Bivol and Beterbiev fighting.

"When things during Covid kind of locked up and everything was in paralysis it didn't go very far.

"I think that pot has gotten bigger as a result of the emergence of Bivol who came from nowhere with the big upset.

"I think that division obviously got a bit of a boost when Bivol upset Canelo.

 "You have a guy, Anthony Yarde from your neck of the woods that is a mandatory challenger for that [WBO title]. So he's going to be thrown into the mix. Bivol is in the mix obviously and you got guys like Gilberto Ramirez and things like that. I think there's really a lot of matches in that division now."

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