WBO President Gustavo Olivieri confirmed that no fight date has been set and that an official purse announcement will follow.
Smith captured the interim belt in February with a points victory over Joshua Buatsi, who fought on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol’s undisputed championship victory over Artur Beterbiev. Bivol remains the division’s undisputed champion, effectively leaving Smith and Morrell to compete for position rather than dominance.
Neither Smith nor Bivol have 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 victory over Imam Khataev on a Ring Magazine card financed by Turki Alalshikh. From there, the progress of the fight became dependent on the placement of the Riyadh season rather than open market momentum.
Important developments since then:
- An original purse bid was scheduled, then canceled in December after a tentative agreement was reached
- Multiple deadline extensions were granted over a period of five months
- 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 discussion of placing the match on the January 31 Ring VI card in New York never materialized
The inability to find an alternative home since then has only heightened questions about how committed the parties involved are to actually fighting the fight.
Promotional Limitations
Matchroom Boxing has five cards scheduled between this weekend and February 28, which limits flexibility. Warriors Boxing has another problem. The company primarily operates 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 vs. 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 ends up forcing the fight on the calendar or simply exposing how few promoters want the risk is now for the WBO to figure out.
The result leaves the division exactly where it has been for months, with a mandate fight no closer to happening.
