Artur Beterbiev will be ordered to fight Callum Smith next, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman previously confirmed.
The WBC, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight world champion retained his belts with a stunning stoppage win over Anthony Yarde on Saturday night in London.
The brutal battle began began with an aggressive start from Beterbiev as he pursued Yarde around the ring.
However, the challenger was clever with his counters and matched the champion.
Beterbiev hurt Yarde in round four, but the Brit weathered the storm before battling back to hurt the Russian-Canadian in a sensational fifth round.
Both men cut each other in the following rounds and continued to exchange heavy artillery.
Ultimately though, Beterbiev made the difference with a big shot in round eight which staggered Yarde and saw him knocked down.
He beat the count and tried to fight on, but was on the end of another assault, so his trainer jumped up onto the ring apron to stop the fight.
At the WBC convention in November, the topic of Beterbiev arose and was clarified by the WBC president.
“I can guarantee the WBC board reviewed on Sunday – Callum Smith is the mandatory,” Sulaiman said to a Matchroom rep.
“He’s allowed to do an interim fight because Beterbiev is gonna do the WBO mandatory. The winner must fight Callum Smith.
“Smith is permitted to do a fight. However, if he loses that fight, he will lose his position as mandatory challenger.”
