Last year, Callum Smith and Joshua Buatsi went toe-to-toe in a Fight of the Year contender and both men are suddenly set to challenge for world titles in the light-heavyweight division, with Buatsi now offering his thoughts on Smith’s upcoming bid for Dmitry Bivol’s unified 175lb crown.

Smith and Buatsi collided on the undercard of Bivol and Artur Beterbiev’s rematch last February and the outcome was a firefight, with Smith ultimately coming out on top with a unanimous decision win (115-113, 119-110, 116-112) that somewhat failed to reflect the efforts of Buatsi.

Since then, Smith has not fought, having been scheduled to take on David Morrell earlier this year, only to pull out due to a late injury and then remain on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Buatsi returned to the winners’ column with a controversial majority-decision triumph over Zach Parker last November.

As the WBO Interim champion and mandatory challenger, Smith was ordered to challenge for Bivol’s remaining three light-heavyweight marbles and the clash has since been scheduled to take place in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Speaking to Pro Boxing Fans, Buatsi considered whether the 22-month spell of inactivity will impact ‘Mundo’, but maintained that the Liverpudlian’s fight with Bivol will be a ‘competitive’ one.

“It’ll be a competitive fight. I don’t know if the inactivity will suit Smith but Smith has been inactive at times and come back in one fight, he did that against me, so can I say that it might not help him? It might not, but sometimes the resting is good for the body so we will have to wait and see.”

Bivol-Smith takes place on Saturday, December 12, at the UMMC Arena, while Buatsi, competes for the vacant WBC light-heavyweight crown in Manchester on Saturday, in a rematch with Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson.