Unified three-belt light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev is going to be coming for WBA champion Dmitry Bivol’s belt on Saturday night in their undisputed championship contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The fight will be shown live on DAZN PPV, along with the undercard.
This fight is supposed to be a 50-50 one, but fans need to be ready to see a full-on rout with Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) being too powerful and rugged for the finesse fighter Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs).
Fans hope to see a war inside the ring on Saturday, but they haven’t seen Bivol fight. He’s not that type of fighter. He’s more of a boxer, and he doesn’t fancy getting into firefights due to his history of being hurt.
“This is the best matchup. It pits the most stylish fighter in the world in my mind. That’s Dmitry Bivol against the most destructive, Artur Beterbiev,” said commentator Mark Kriegel to Top Rank Boxing.
I don’t think this is the best matchup in the light heavyweight division, but it’s one of the best. There are more entertaining guys in the 175-lb division that would give Artur more of a fan-friendly fight.
– David Benavidez
– Anthony Yarde: *rematch
– David Morrell
– Joshua Buatsi
– Wily Hutchinson
“Artur Beterbiev brings three belts to the table, but Dmitry Bivol brings that one belt. It’s so valuable because he beat Canelo Alvarez [in 2022]. That means that you are an elite competitor,” said commentator Bernard Osuna. “This is such a compelling fight. You can see it going either way. This man is a destructive force and once he gets going, the freight train just runs you over,” said Osuna about Beterbiev.
I don’t see this as a fight that can go either way, but I’ve watched Beterbierv and Bivol their entire careers. This is a catch and mouse type of fight, which could be boring if Dmitry chooses to move all night like he did against Lyndon Arthur and Canelo Alvarez.
“This is a fan-friendly fight. I think this is a great fight for boxing because all the belts are on the line, but only one man can win. That man is going to have to be at his very best that he’s ever been in his entire career,” said analyst Tim Bradley. “Is this one of the best fights to be made in boxing? Absolutely, yes, because we don’t know who is going to win the fight.
“It’s a unification fight. It’s a very big motivation for me,” said Artur Beterbiev. “Of course, I’m excited. It’s my goal to be a unified world champion. I try to be ready for every fight, and I want to prove something.”
Beterbiev may have beaten better fighters than Bivol during his pro career, and been robbed in the 2012 London Olympics after dominating Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine. Artur’s wins over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith were against fighters that are arguably better pro talents than Bivol. They just haven’t been matched like he has.
“What is the minimum? The maximum is to collect all belts. Okay, this is my maximum,” said Bivol. “This is boxing, and you have to be ready for whole situations.”
It doesn’t get any better than this for Bivol because whatever comes after this won’t be as big. The two-time Olympian Beterbiev has been a force of nature since he turned pro, and it would say a lot about Bivol if he can become the guy that gives him his first career defeat. On the flip side, it’s not the end of the world for Bivol if he loses. He’s young enough at 33 to come back and still capture more belts.
Beterbiev will likely vacate the four titles and move up to cruiserweight if he’s victorious on Saturday, leaving the fragmented belts up for grabs. As long as a knockout loss to Beterbiev doesn’t ruin Bivol’s punch resistance, he should be able to come back and capture one of the belts after he leaves the division.
