Since its inception, Riyadh Season has provided fight fans with entertaining 50/50 fights, and on Saturday night, October 12, Riyadh Season presents the ultimate 50/50 contest as WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol takes on WBC , WBO, IBF to face. champion Artur Beterbiev.
At times it looked like the potential Beterbiev vs. Bivol clash would fall under the category of great battles that never happened. Fortunately, the two fighters were able to reach an agreement, and the fight will take place on October 12 at Kingdom Arena, in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, live on ESPN+.
This battle for undisputed has all the makings of this fight being an instant classic. This is the traditional boxer vs. puncher match in which both boxers are undefeated and both are currently performing at a high level.
Dmitry Bivol was introduced to the general public earlier in May 2022 when he fought a man many consider the face of boxing. During his title defense against Canelo Alvarez, the WBA world champion unleashed his entire repertoire.
Bivol controlled the distance, he used the jab, he consistently landed straight punches, his timing was on point, his counterattack was sharp, and he was defensively responsible. At the end of the 12-round world title contest, Dmitri Bivol scored a unanimous decision victory.
Six months later, Bivol defended his title against a Mexican boxer who came into the fight with 44 wins and no losses. Once again, Bivol flexed his ring generalship and his technical skills when he pointed out Gilberto Ramirez.
In June 2024, after winning nine consecutive fights by unanimous decision, Bivol finally stopped an opponent when he scored a sixth-round TKO victory over Malik Zinad. Now Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) is about to face the toughest challenge of his professional career.
As a boxer under the Top Rank umbrella, Artur Beterbiev has consistently landed impressive knockouts on the ESPN broadcasts. Every time Beterbiev stepped into the squared circle, he overwhelmed his opponent with devastating power.
In June 2022, WBC, IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev traveled to New York to fight WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr. to defy. In a puncher vs puncher match, Artur Beterbiev dominated New York native Joe Smith in front of his home crowd.
In the final seconds of the opening round, Beterbiev caught Smith coming in when he landed a hard overhand right that sent Smith crashing to the canvas. Smith was able to get up, but he would revisit the canvas twice in the second round.
After getting up from the third takedown, Smith was hurt badly when Beterbiev landed a hard uppercut that prompted the referee to step in and stop the match. Beterbiev would go on to score knockout wins over Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith.
Now, current unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) plans to defeat Dmitri Bivol and achieve his goal of becoming an undisputed world champion.
Artur Beterbiev is a skilled, hard-hitting power puncher who likes to push forward. Beterbiev has a solid jab, he has good jab placement and he has the ability to fight off the back foot.
Dmitry Bivol is an elite boxer who has all the tools. Bivol has the IQ, accuracy, timing, the footwork, punch placement, he is an excellent counter puncher, and he has the ability to set traps. With all of Bivol’s abilities, the most interesting question is what will happen once Beterbiev cuts off the ring?
Despite the fact that Dmitri Bivol has a tremendous amount of boxing talent, there will come a time during the course of this fight when Bivol will have to stand his ground and fight Beterbiev.
In 1999, Hall of Fame boxer Roy Jones Jr. the last undisputed light heavyweight champion of the three-belt era. On Saturday night, in the highly anticipated legacy fight, the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol bout will become the first undisputed light heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
