Artur Beterbiev’s promoter, Bob Arum, says he and Dmitry Bivol will be sparring for a while before a rematch in October 2025 for the Riyadh Season opener.
Top Rank promoter Arum told Dan Rafael on X about undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and former WBA champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) following temporary battles.
Arum did not say who Beterbiev will face next, but his likely IBF challenger, Michael Eifert. The IBF ordered that Beterbiev vs. Eifert last week happened. If Beterbiev wants to keep that title and hold on to his undisputed crown, he has to face him or work out a side deal.
The downside of delaying the Beterbiev-Bivol fight until October 2025 is that Beterbiev will be close to 41 years old by then. Beterbiev turns 40 on January 21. If the rematch is delayed until October, he will be less than three months from turning 41. That’s good for Bivol, who could have a big profit, but not a good deal for Beterbiev or the fans.
What the fans would prefer to happen is for Beterbiev to face off Canelo Alvarez or the winner of David Benavidez or David Morrell’s next fight. Those would be big battles. Either of those options would be preferable to IBF mandatory no-nonsense Eifert (13-1, 5 KOd) following Beterbiev.
It is unlikely that Canelo will choose to fight Beterbiev due to the high risk involved. Canelo may not be interested in facing a dangerous puncher like Beterbiev because he doesn’t have the moves that Bivol does. He would have to stand and fight Beterbiev, and his chances of survival would be slim. It would have been the same for Bivol if he hadn’t gone 12 rounds.
Bivol has to fight one of these contestants next:
– Joshua Buatsi
– David Morrell
– David Benavidez
Ideally, Bivol should fight one of those guys next in his interim fight, but his promoter, Eddie Hearn, might not be open to putting him in a serious fight that he might lose before facing Beterbiev. Bivol doesn’t have the offensive ability to beat any of those three fighters, and will be forced to go 12 rounds to avoid getting hit.
Beteriev defeated Bivol via a 12-round majority decision on October 12. The fight was close with Bivol getting the better of Beterbiev who started slowly in the first half of the fight, using movement, jabs, and combinations.
In the second half, Beterbiev took over by pressing, hitting hard, and staying on top of Bivol. The scores were 114-114-115-113 and 116-112. Bivol promoter Eddie Hearn argued afterwards that he deserved to win 8-4, and Beterbiev’s shots were taken from his gloves.
Apparently the judges saw that Bivol was not showing any will to fight and looked depressed from the seventh round onwards. Bivol’s body was that of a fighter who had completely withered in the second half of the contest. You can argue that you lost every round from the seventh round onwards. Obviously, Hearn’s and Bivol’s fans won’t agree that he quit, but that was the reality that unbiased fans saw.
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