It’s closing in on year since we last saw WBA light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol in action. Since then he’s struggled for various reasons to entice fellow 175-pounders to face him.

Bivol, The Ring’s No. 1 ranked light heavyweight, is considering his options and hopes to return in December.

“We have had a delay in returning to the ring, but to be honest this was a planned delay due to wanting to take some time off,” Bivol (21-0, 11 knockouts) told The Ring through manager Vadim Kornilov. “My plan is to be back in the ring by the end of this year, and I know my team is working on this and I will be prepared.”

The 32-year-old is due to head to training camp in the U.S. soon and according to Kornilov has a list of potential opponents that they are working through.

“Opponents being discussed are [Jaime] Munguia, ‘Hot Rod’ [Radivoje Kalajdzic], Lyndon Arthur, Anthony Yarde, and a couple of others,” said Kornilov. “The plan is to fight in the U.S.A.”

Although the Kyrgyzstan native took a well-earned sabbatical, he’s not been able to build on the momentum he built in a banner 2022.

“To be honest, there is a lot of talk, but from my understanding there is really not one boxer out there that is willing to fight, correct me if I am wrong,” said Bivol.

There had been negotiations earlier this year for Bivol to face Canelo for a second time. However, the rematch never came to pass.

Bivol scoffs at the notion of pricing himself out of that fight after dominating boxing biggest star last year and failing to build on his Fighter of the Year achievements.

“I am not really thinking about the A or B side,” he said. “I really just want to get to the fights I want, and there are only a couple of big fights out there right now. I understand that I might have to take in between fights to stay busy in order to get to those fights.

“Being Fighter of the Year was an important achievement to my team and myself personally, it is not something necessarily tied to capitalization, there are many other aspects.”

Kornilov was quick to praise his fighter’s achievements and says he hopes to help secure further big opportunities to cement his charges place in boxing history.

“Our team has done well working together to be where we are today,” said the well-known manager. “Dmitry Bivol is one of the top elite athletes in the sport of boxing today and has all the chances of proving to be the best pound-for-pound in the near future. Right now, there is a lot of talk and a lot of excuses, but the time will come and some of these guys will have to fight him.

“I am looking forward to the Canelo vs. Charlo fight, notwithstanding the current trend of mental issues, injuries, and other reasons to not be at their best, I believe both guys have a good chance in this fight. Our priority right now is to fight (IBF, WBC and WBO titleholder Artur) Beterbiev and unify all the titles at 175. If successful Bivol will be looking at opportunities to fight the best at 175 and 168, and if Charlo or someone else beats Canelo, maybe they will want to fight the guy that already beat Canelo before him.”

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