WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) of St. Petersburg, Russia will make his third title defense against light heavyweight contender Isaac "Golden Boy" Chilemba (25-5-2, 10 KOs) of Blantyre, Malawi as the co-main event on the Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev vs. Eleider "Storm" Alvarez card at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on Saturday, August 4. The event will be presented by Main Events and Krusher Promotions in association with Groupe Yvon Michel and World of Boxing. The doubleheader will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Bivol, 27, made his professional debut in 2014 with six straight knockouts. In 2016, he defeated Felix Valera to secure the Interim WBA Light Heavyweight Title. After the retirement of Andre Ward in September of last year, the WBA elevated Dmitry to WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion. In November 2017, he made his first successful title defense against Trent Broadhurst in Monte Carlo with a first round knockout. In March at Madison Square Garden, Bivol handed Sullivan Barrera his second defeat and first career knock out loss with a thrilling 12th round stoppage. This will Bivol’s first fight in Atlantic City and mark his third appearance on HBO®.
When asked about his upcoming bout with Chilemba, Bivol said, "I am glad that my next opponent will be a tough and well-known boxer in Chilemba! I will do my best to put on another exciting performance for all my fans!"
Bivol’s promoter, Andrei Ryabinskiy, of World of Boxing added, "Looking forward to another great event with Main Events! I believe Dmitry Bivol is a star in the making; he is very impressive!"
According to Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, "We are glad another great event will take place on the East Coast featuring two great Russian champions on one card. We had to go through many different opponents and finally were in a tough position trying to find an opponent that would fight Bivol. Happily, Chilemba is a good opponent who has proven to be tough in his previous fights. I’m looking forward to another great event!"