WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol returns to the ring this weekend in Monte Carlo in his latest defence.

Russian Dmitry Bivol (11-0-9KO) has made very fast progress since turning pro only in 2014 to become a world champion.

He takes on Australia’s Trent Broadhurst this Saturday.

Since racking up 11 quick wins and becoming champion, talks of a possible future clash for Bivol with fellow Russian big hitter and former champion Sergey Kovalev have circulated.

While both men have been respectful to one another when asked about the fight, they surely know that it could be an inevitable one to be made down the road.

Particularly with both fighters sharing the same promoter.

Ahead of Saturday night Dmitry Bivol spoke about his motivation for getting into boxing in the first place and who is favorite fighters of all time are:

“My favorite boxer is Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s great. Of course, Muhammed Ali is biggest star. He is very famous. I love to watch fights with Sugar Ray Leonard before my fights. I learn from his fights. I also like to watch Gennady Golovkin, Vasyl Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquaio, but my favorite is Sugar Ray Leonard.”

The fight between Bivol and Broadhurst this weekend will be shown on HBO in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK.

Ahead of the bout here is HBO’s preview from Harold Lederman: