Vacant WBA light heavyweight title: Ramírez vs Ataev on December 12
Interim champion Albert Ramírez meets two-time amateur world champion Sharabutdin Ataev in Yekaterinburg on December 12 for the vacant WBA regular light heavyweight title.
Archive image · Photo: Давид Кочинян / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Venezuela's Albert Ramírez (23-0, 19 KOs) faces Sharabutdin Ataev (10-0, 5 KOs) for the vacant WBA regular light heavyweight title at the UMMC Arena in Yekaterinburg on December 12. According to Fightnews, the bout is the co-main event to the unification between Dmitry Bivol and Callum Smith, shown worldwide on DAZN.
Ramírez, a 2016 Olympian, won the interim title in August 2025 and defended it against Lerrone Richards in June. Ataev won the amateur world championships in 2023 and 2025 and the 2024 European title; a unanimous decision over former world champion José Uzcátegui made him the WBA's mandatory challenger.
"First, we went after the interim world title, and on December 12, it will be the full world title," said Camille Estephan, president of Ramírez's promoter EOTTM. The winner of Bivol vs Smith "will be next on our list", he added.