WBO President Gustavo Olivieri confirmed that a date for the fight had not been set and that an official bid announcement would follow.
Smith won the interim belt in February with a win over Joshua Buatsi, and fought under Dmitry Bivol’s title win against Artur Beterbiev. Bivol remains the division champion, leaving Smith and Morrell to compete effectively for position rather than supremacy.
Neither Smith nor Bivol have fought since February, a fact that killed the prospect of having an interim title.
How was the fight
The Smith Morrell fight was scheduled for last July, shortly after Morrell’s comeback with a decision win over Imam Khataev on the Ring Magazine bill sponsored by Turki Alalshikh. From there, the progress of the fight depended on the Riyadh Season placement rather than the opening of the market.
Highlights since then:
- An initial financial bid was scheduled, then canceled in December after a tentative agreement was reached.
- Multiple deadline extensions were granted over five months
- The fight headlined a March card headlined by Anthony Joshua
- Those plans fell through after Joshua’s car accident in Nigeria last December
- A brief discussion of placing the fight on the January 31 Ring VI card in New York has yet to take place.
The failure to find another home since then has only raised questions about the integrity of the parties involved in running the fight.
limited promotion
Matchroom Boxing has five cards scheduled between this weekend and February 28, limited flexibility. Warriors Boxing is a different matter. The company initially operates under the umbrella of Premier Boxing Champions, which has yet to confirm the dates of the fights in the first quarter of 2026.
A planned March 21 Prime Video pay-per-view show featuring Sebastian Fundora against Keith Thurman is the only visible option on that schedule.
In asking for a price now, Morrell’s side has chosen severity over patience. Whether that will boost the fight on the calendar or just show how few promoters want the risk now remains to be seen by the WBO.
The result leaves the division exactly where it has been for months, with a scheduled fight nowhere near happening.