Artur Beterbiev’s promoter Bob Arum says he and Dmitry Bivol will take interim bouts before meeting in a rematch in October 2025 to open the Riyadh season.
Top Rank promoter Arum told Dan Rafael X over undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and former WBA champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) taking interim bouts next.
Arum did not say who Beterbiev will face next, but one possibility is his IBF mandatory challenger, Michael Eifert. The IBF ordered last week that Beterbiev vs. Eifert must happen next week. If Beterbiev wants to keep that title and keep his undisputed crown, he needs to face him or work a one-way deal.
The downside of postponing the Beterbiev-Bivol fight to October 2025 is that Beterbiev will be nearly 41 years old by then. Beterbiev turns 40 on January 21. If the rematch is postponed until October, he will be within three months of turning 41. That’s great for Bivol, who will have more of an advantage, but not a good deal for Beterbiev or the fans.
What fans would prefer to happen is for Beterbiev to face off Canelo Alvarez or the winner of the David Benavidez or David Morrell fight next. These will be great battles. Either of those options would be preferable to the obscure IBF mandatory Eifert (13-1, 5 KOd) who is next for 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 mobility that Bivol has. He would have to stand and fight for Beterbiev, and his chances of survival would be slim. It would be the same thing for Bivol if he wasn’t on the move for 12 rounds.
Bivol should fight one of these contenders next:
– Joshua Buatsi
–David Morrell
– David Benavidez
Ideally, Bivol should fight one of those guys next for his interim bout, but his promoter, Eddie Hearn, may not be open to putting him in a risky fight that he could lose before facing Beterbiev. Bivol doesn’t have the offensive skills to beat any of those three fighters, and he’ll be forced to move around for 12 rounds to avoid possible knockouts.
Beteryev defeated Bivol by a 12-round majority decision on October 12. The fight was close with Bivol getting the better of the slow-starting Beterbiev in the first half of the fight, using movement, jabs and combination punches.
In the second half, Beterbiev took over with his pressure, power plays and on top of Bivol. The scores were 114-114-115-113 and 116-112. Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, argued afterwards that he deserved the win by an 8-4 margin, and Beterbiev’s shots were picked off on his gloves.
The judges clearly saw that Bivol showed no willingness to fight and looked in distress from the seventh round. Bivol’s body language was that of a fighter who completely wilted in the second half of the contest. You could argue that he lost every round from round seven. Obviously, Hearn and Bivol’s fans weren’t going to admit that he quit, but that was the reality that non-biased fans saw.