July 16 may become the date of the battle of Eleider Alvarez (25-1, 13 KOs) and Joe Smith Jr. (25-3, 20 KOs). The duel will be part of the mini tournament for the vacant WBO light heavyweight belt.
Initially, such a battle was about to take place at the turn of May and June. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the expectation of an interesting confrontation of the Colombian and the American.
The winner of Alvarez vs Smith fight will participate in the battle for the vacant belt of the World Boxing Organization with the best of Umar Salamov vs Maxim Vlasov pair. In recent months, the Russian boxers have signed contracts with Top Rank, which, therefore, represents the interests of all participants in this WBO mini-tournament.
Former world featherweight champion Andrew Cancio and Manuel Roja will also compete on July 16 at the Top Rank card. For the American, this will be the first performance after signing a contract with Bob Arum.
