Dmitry Bivol vs Isaac Chilemba official for August 4 14

It was rumored before, now it’s set. Dmitry Bivol will defend the WBA “world” light heavyweight title against veteran Isaac Chilemba on August 4, part of the Kovalev-Alvarez card on HBO from Atlantic City.

Bivol (13-0, 11 KO) is coming off of an impressive and dominant TKO-12 win over Sullivan Barrera on March 3, while Chilemba (25-5-2, 10 KO) defeated Blake Caparello via decision on August 16 on the road in Australia.

That win ended a three-fight losing streak for Chilemba, where he was downed by Eleider Alvarez, Sergey Kovalev, and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“I am glad that my next opponent will be a tough and well-known boxer in Chilemba,” Bivol said. “I will do my best to put on another exciting performance for all my fans!”

Chilemba said, “2017 was a bad year for me, recovering from surgery and thinking that my career was over, but I’m a fighter; I couldn’t give up and I won’t give up. I’m going to take this opportunity and give it everything I have.”