A bout between WBO Interim Light Heavyweight Champion Callum Smith and #2 Contender David Morrell is scheduled for November 25, 2025 at WBO Headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Morrell’s promoter at TGB and Smith’s Matchroom promoter were unable to reach an agreement, forcing a purse bid. Bidding starts at $300K.
What’s at stake for Callum Smith
It’s a tough fight for the 35-year-old Callum (31-2, 22 KOs) to have to defend against his mandatory Morrell (12-1, 9 KOs). The fight was ordered on July 22, 2025. Smith wanted to face WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez, but that didn’t happen.
Now Callum faces 27-year-old Cuban-born Morrell to retain his WBO interim 175lb title. This belt is important because it keeps Smith in position to challenge the WBO champion, Dmitry Bivol.
Purse Bid Alert: The interim WBO Light Heavyweight Championship fight between Callum Smith and David Morrell will go to purse bid on November 25, 2025, at 11:00 am. AST at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/PY1Pyejlf7
— WBO (@WorldBoxingOrg) 19 November 2025
Morrell’s recent struggles
Morrell didn’t shine in his last fight, edging previously undefeated light heavyweight contender Imam Khataev (10-1, 9 KOs) via a 10-round split decision on July 12, 2025 in Queens, New York. It could have been an easier fight for Morrell, but he only fought hard in a short amount of time. Much of the time he moved around or covered up, allowing Khataev to land heavy shots.
In the fifth, Morrell was dropped as he pulled away with his hands down. Although he was not hurt, it gave the impression that he was in trouble because Khataev jumped on him while he was shelling.
In Morrell’s fight before that, he lost to David Benavidez via a 12-round unanimous decision on February 1, 2025. It was a similar performance by Morrell, with him fighting in short spurts and covering up for long stretches, which allowed Benavidez to fire a flurry at his guard. Despite showing superior strength against ‘The Mexican Monster’, Morrell didn’t let his hands go enough.
Fighting with his back against the ropes was the wrong thing for him to do against Benavidez. The scores were 118-108, 115-111 and 115-111.
Can Abel Sanchez fix Morrell?
Those two performances by Morrell showed that he needed to make some changes. He then placed trainer Ronnie Shields with Abel Sanchez, and now trains out of Big Bear, California.
Sanchez is a great motivator, and he speaks fluent Spanish. So, that should make the transition easier. If he can fix Morrell, he has a gem on his hands, who could take over the 175-pound division and avenge his loss to Benavidez. It will make Sanchez look like a genius.
Callum defeated Joshua Buatsi earlier this year on February 22, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by a 12 round unanimous decision. It was an all-out war in which Smith took over in the later rounds, hurting the previously undefeated Buatsi several times with heavy shots. The scores were 115-113, 119-110 and 116-112.
We don’t know how much that fight took out of Smith because it was one of his more grueling fights of his career. He seemed to take more punishment in that fight than he did in his seventh-round knockout loss to then-IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on January 13, 2024 and his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Canelo Alvarez on December 19, 2020.
Last updated on 19/11/2025
