WBO Sends Smith–Morrell Bout To Auction

WBO president Gustavo Olivieri confirmed that no fight date has been established and that an official purse bid notice will follow.

Smith captured the interim belt in February with a points win over Joshua Buatsi, fighting on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol’s undisputed championship rematch victory against Artur Beterbiev. Bivol remains the division’s undisputed champion, leaving Smith and Morrell effectively competing for position rather than supremacy.

Neither Smith nor Bivol has fought since February, a reality that has quietly drained purpose from the existence of an interim title.

How the fight stalled

The Smith Morrell bout was ordered last July, shortly after Morrell returned with a decision win over Imam Khataev on a Ring Magazine card financed by Turki Alalshikh. From there, the fight’s progress became dependent on Riyadh Season placement rather than open market momentum.

Key developments since then:

• An original purse bid was scheduled, then canceled in December after a provisional agreement was reached
• Multiple deadline extensions were granted over a five-month period
• The fight was targeted for a March card headlined by Anthony Joshua
• Those plans collapsed after Joshua’s fatal car accident in Nigeria last December
• Brief talk of placing the bout on the January 31 Ring VI card in New York never materialized

The inability to find an alternate home since has only sharpened questions about how committed the involved parties are to actually staging the fight.

Promotional constraints

Matchroom Boxing has five cards scheduled between this weekend and February 28, limiting flexibility. Warriors Boxing faces a different issue. The company operates primarily under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella, which currently has no confirmed fight dates in the first quarter of 2026.

A tentative March 21 Prime Video pay-per-view event featuring Sebastian Fundora against Keith Thurman remains the only visible option on that schedule.

By requesting a purse bid now, the Morrell side has chosen pressure over patience. Whether that finally forces the fight onto the calendar or simply exposes how few promoters want the risk is now for the WBO to find out.

The outcome leaves the division exactly where it has been for months, with a mandated fight still no closer to taking place.