Dmitry Bivol is set to defend his WBA light heavyweight title in less than three weeks on DAZN.
Matchroom Boxing announced that Bivol's next title defense will be against Lenin Castillo and it will take place at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on October 12. The fight will be part of the DAZN undercard for Oleksnadr Usyk's heavyweight debut against Tyrone Spong.
Bivol was once the interim WBA titleholder but after both Andre Ward and Badou Jack relinquished the governing body's "Super" and "Regular" light heavyweight titles in 2017, Bivol was elevated to sole world champion. Since 2018, Bivol has picked up wins against the likes of Jean Pascal and Sullivan Barrera. In his most recent fight in March, the undefeated Bivol defeated Joe Smith Jr. by unanimous decision.
Castillo, a 31-year-old Dominican fighter, will be fighting for his world title, but will be coming to this fight as a massive underdog. Castillo is not even ranked in the WBA's top 15 as well as the WBC and IBF rankings. Riding a two-fight win streak since a 2018 loss to Marcus Browne, Castillo is actually ranked No. 11 by the WBO at 175 pounds.
This is now the third title fight and second world title bout confirmed for the show. The other world title fight will have unified WBA and WBC junior welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill take on Erica Farias and Charles Conwell defend his USBA junior middleweight title against Patrick Day. Unbeaten prospect Anthony Sims Jr. is also scheduled to fight on the undercard.
