Kornilov: Barrera gave preliminary agreement to face Bivol

Sullivan Barrera of Cuba has already given his preliminary agreement to a fight with WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol, Russian manager Vadim Kornilov said.

Earlier Kornilov told that the nearest fight for Bivol was planned for February in the US and that Barrera was one of the possible rivals. Bivol in early November defended his title by knocking out Australian Trent Broadhurst.

"In principle, Barrera already seemed to have given his agreement to fight Bivol, so we will try to come to this fight. Bivol and his coach Gennady Mashyanov are very interested in this fight, as well as the whole team, so we will be push it go," said Kornilov.

Answering a question about a possible Bivol fight in Russia, Kornilov said that his team would "consider the possibility of such a fight, possibly in the second half of next year."

"Now there are a lot of competitive fights in this weight division. I think that Russian viewers would be very happy to see one of the most competitive matches a fight between two world champions in this weight class. I think that eventually, after all big battles have been fought this year in this weight category, it will be clear which fights can happen in the second half of next year," said Kornilov.