Promoter Bob Arum wants Artur Beterbiev to bypass his recently ordered IBF mandatory Michael Eifert to face Dmitry Bivol, Canelo Alvarez, or David Benavidez next.
The Top Rank boss Arum doesn’t want undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) to bother with Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs), who is a complete unknown with U.S fans and would attract zero interest.
Given Beterbiev’s age, long career, and recent injuries, it would be pointless for him to use one of his valuable last handful of fights in his career defending against an obscure fighter like 26-year-old Eifert, whose best career win came recently against 40-year-old Jean Pascal.
Arum would jump at the chance of setting up a fight between Beterbiev and Canelo Alvarez if the Mexican star shows interest in moving up to 175 to challenge him for his four belts.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he wants Beterbiev and Bivol to fight in a rematch after their fight last Saturday night in Riyadh. Eddie Hearn promotes Bivol, and he might be able to persuade Turki to go toward a rematch rather than a much bigger fight involving Canelo or Benavidez facing Beterbiev.
Fans Want Canelo for Beterbiev
Turki had Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) winning, but the judges scored it for IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev based on him being the aggressor in the entire second half, hurting Bivol several times, and putting him on the run.
It would be great for American fans if Canelo chooses to fight Beterbiev because that’s a far better match than a rematch with Bivol, who is a defensive guy who played keep-away all night. Canelo would make it entertaining for fans.
“Bob Arum told me he intends to encourage Beterbiev to skip the IBF mandatory vs. Michael Eifert to fight Bivol again, Benavidez, or even Canelo,” said Keith Idec on X about promoter Bob Arum wanting undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev to face Canelo, Bivol or Benavidez next.
As long as Beterbiev is willing to vacate his IBF title if need be to skip the Eifert fight, we could see him fighting Bivol, Canelo, or Benavidez next. If Canelo chooses not to move up to 175 to challenge Beterbiev, the winner of the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell clash on January 25th will be a good option.
Bivol would be the third choice because it’s a less appealing fight, and we already know how he’ll be on the run for 12 rounds, trying to win by doing the minimum.
What we don’t need is Beterbiev beating Bivol a second time and Hearn complaining that he should have won, appealing to the sanctioning bodies to order a trilogy, and crying to Turki that a third match is needed. At some point, Hearn and Bivol have to accept that they’re not good enough and get in the back of the line with the other fighters that Beterbiev has beaten.
Crawford The Last Resort?
“I think that fight happens if the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch for the undisputed goes forward, I think that’ll leave Canelo out there on the island where he’ll probably want to have a big fight that can compete and draw like the other fights,” said Antonio Tarver to Fighthype about the possibility of Canelo Alvarez choosing to fight Terence Crawford if he doesn’t move up to 175 to challenge Artur Beterbiev for his undisputed light heavyweight championship.
Canelo would be more open to fighting Crawford if he showed that he’s not just looking for a retirement payday by moving up to 168 and proving himself against one of the killers in the division instead of asking for the match to be given to him. It’s hard for Canelo to take Crawford seriously, with him barely winning his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd, and then fishing for a two-fight celebrity-esque deal with the aging former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
“So, if he doesn’t fight Beterbiev and Beterbiev gives Bivol a rematch, I think it’ll be a perfect time to bring a Canelo-Crawford to the surface to see how that plays out just to see how both legends get what they want to get off.
“I would have to say because of the size and power, and Bud moving up, you would have to favor Canelo because of that. But I’m still going to be looking at a guy like Crawford, if anybody can upset Canelo at that level moving up, it would be a guy with the skill set of Crawford and the toughness of Crawford.”
Canelo has already said he’s not interested in fighting Crawford because it’s a no-win situation where he’ll be criticized regardless of how the match goes down. Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, already let the cat out of the bag, saying how they plan on using the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Dmitry Bivol blueprint against Canelo. That means there will be a lot of jabbing and retreating around the ring. Canelo doesn’t want to fight a runner at his age, and you can’t blame him.
“That last fight against Madrimov showed a lot. He showed a lot because of his boxing,” said Tarver about Crawford looking good and bad during his debut at 154 against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd. “A lot of times, you ain’t got to be punching to control somebody in the ring.
“So, Bud was in there controlling, and he knew he couldn’t stand there in the exchange. So, he boxes and countered him, in and out all night. He made Madrimov kind of get desperate down in the end, even though Madrimov stayed in there. I knew it would be a tough fight, but Bud passed all the tests. We knew he had a chin. He got cracked a few times with a lot of right hands. That’s what I was looking to see. Could he take a punch from a 154-pounder?”
Crawford passed the test as far as beating arguably the fourth or fifth-best fighter at 154, but he didn’t show the kind of ability that would enable him to defeat the top-rung guys. In other words, Crawford reached his ceiling with his fight against Madrimov, and if he were to face the better fighters in the junior middleweight division, he’d lose. Moving up to 168 to fight Canelo would be just about money. Crawford would be too small, weak, and old to defeat the Mexican star.
Questions About Crawford’s Readiness for Battle At 168
“We knew that Madrimov is not Canelo or none of those other boys. He’s strong as an ox. So, Crawford proved that he’s got a chin, but I don’t think he liked getting touched by those 154-pounders. It’s not nothing nice. It’s different. That weight with that punch is a little bit different,” said Tarver.
It did look like Crawford wasn’t enjoying eating those right hands from Madrimov. There was one sequence where Crawford got hit five consecutive times with right hands from Madrimov, and each shot snapped his head back. If Madrimov had been attacking more aggressively in the championship rounds, he might have knocked out Crawford. That was Madrimov’s mistake in choosing to box rather than go for the finish.
“Oh yeah, a complete fighter. Bud proved that, a boxer-puncher and counter-puncher. He can do it all,” said Tarver when asked if Crawford proved that he’s a complete fighter in his last contest against Madrimov. “Inoue is one of those fighters and Canelo is one of those fighters. It takes a lot of experience to become a complete fighter.”
Crawford didn’t prove that he’s a puncher at 154 in his fight against Madrimov. His power didn’t look formidable at all in that fight, and it seemed obvious that he was not going to be the same fighter he was in this weight class that he’d been at 147, 140, or 135. That might explain why Crawford isn’t showing a lot of interest in fighting the other champions at 154 since the Madrimov fight, which he barely won.
“This is where the gap is. They want to get up there without the experience factor, and if you’re not getting the experience, then you’ve got to get the experience from somewhere, from somebody that has got it,” said Tarver.
