Artur Beterbiev says he is considering moving up in weight if he can win his undisputed light heavyweight title fight against WBA 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol on October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) says he will have achieved his goal of taking all the light heavyweight belts if he wins his 12-round bout with Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs). ). However, he is still not sure what he will do next.
If Beterbiev moves up to cruiserweight, fans will be interested in a fight between him and undefeated IBF champion Jai Opetaia, who is considered the best fighter in the division.
Opetaia is a good fighter, but he looked uncomfortable with the pressure put on him in his last fight against Mairis Briedis in their rematch on May 18.
Beterbiev-Bivol will be shown live on ESPN+ at the Kingdom Arena in a separate broadcast event. The subcard will be displayed on another network.
It will be difficult for Beterbiev to beat Bivol because he will have to cross the ring and chase him around the ring all night. In recent training photos of Bivol, he uses a lot of movement, which shows that he will try to keep Beterbiev out.
“I am not happy with the selection of the face. I’m happy to fight. He is a good boxer and he is my challenge,” said Artur Beterbiev on YouTube channel Queensberry, talking about his fight with Dmitry Bivol on October 13.
“I don’t know. “I already had two fights going into the unification fight, and these two guys are good, and we’ll see what happens with this guy,” Beterbiev said when asked if Bivol is the toughest fight of his life.
Beterbiev recently knocked out Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, and WBO champion Joe Smith Jr. None of those heroes gave Beterbiev much trouble. Yarde fought well early in the fight but was pressured by Beterbiev and knocked out in the eighth round last year on January 28.
“No. There are no battles for you,” said Beterbiev. “It’s like I want another belt. I feel in the boxing gym, if you do the work, I feel like there is room to do better. I always feel like this. I need to do more training on my skills. I will try to be a good boxer.”
Trying to beat Bivol might not be a good idea for Beterbiev because he’s better off focusing on his normal fighting style and looking to knock him out. If Beterbiev enters the boxing match, he will be playing into his hands.
“My goal is to become a professional boxer one day. It means I’m not there. I need to train hard because I’m not there. I’m still not a good boxer. “I will become a good boxer if I train hard,” said Beterbiev.
“I think at this stage, it’s a big goal,” said Beterbiev. He will have gone the way he wanted when he held the unopposed title in the light heavyweight division. “We will see after that. Challenges may be of different categories. Go up [in weight]. I am not focused on these things,” said Beterbiev.
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