Following a delayed announcement, Dmitry Bivol’s next outing has finally been confirmed.

Bivol has been linked to fights with both Artur Beterbiev and David Benavidez, but it was announced back in August that the Russian was set to take on mandatory challenger Callum Smith first instead.

RCC Promotions agreed a deal to stage the event without the requirement of purse bids; planning on having Bivol headline a second straight card in Ekaterinburg, Russia – after defending his belts against Michael Eifert on home soil back in May.

However, because of the location, the WBO refused to sanction the Eifert contest as a WBO world title affair and complications arose once again when it was announced that Bivol’s clash with their mandatory challenger Smith would also take place in Russia.

As a result, rumours emerged that the event could be rescheduled for a bill staged by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing – who promote Smith – with their annual December event in Monaco being suggested as a potential alternative.

Yet, RCC Promotions have today confirmed that Smith has signed his updated contract to challenge for Bivol’s WBA, WBO and IBF marbles.

“WBO Light Heavyweight mandatory contender, WBO World Interim Champion from the United Kingdom Callum Smith signed the official contract to fight a unified world champion, Dmitriy Bivol.”

Adding to the announcement, CEO of RCC Boxing Promotions, German Titov, confirmed that the event will indeed go ahead as planned in Ekaterinburg, thus implying that the WBO have made the decision to sanction the contest as a title bout.

“Today we closed the prolonged talks with Callum Smith’s team, all the necessary papers for him to fight Dmitriy Bivol are signed. RCC Boxing will promote this fight and it will happen in December in Ekaterinburg. As we mentioned earlier, the date is planned to be December 12th.”

Smith will be attempting to become a two-weight world champion if he is victorious, having previously held world honours at 168lbs.