The Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol light heavyweight headline bout tops the stacked undercard bouts announced yesterday for their October 12th event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A lackluster undercard
It’s a shame there wasn’t a quality main support match added to the card that could have done justice to the main event. Instead, you have WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson defending against Joe Cordina.
The problem is that this fight will mainly be bought by casual boxing fans, and they expect a great co-feature match on a PPV card. Shakur needs a knockout artist as an opponent to make him worth watching because his fights are always boring.
Promoter Eddie Hearn should have left Cordina off the card and instead matched Shakur against Edwin De Los Santos in a rematch.
Many boxing fans would love to see that fight, as Shakur was full of excuses last November when he turned his fight against De Los Santos into a track event. Afterward, he blamed a hand injury for his nonstop movement, but he didn’t offer De Los Santos a rematch to show he could beat him without running.
If the headliner between IBF, WBC and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBA champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) is an exciting enough fight, it won’t matter if the undercard isn’t interested in the average fan.
Undercard breakdown
– Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina
– Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
– Fabio Wardley vs Frazer Clarke II
– Jai Opetaia vs Jack Massey
– Ben Whittaker vs Liam Cameron
– Skye Nicolson vs Raven Chapman
– Mohammed Alakel vs Jesus Gonzalez
Beterbiev vs. Bivol: A fight that can stand alone
“I’ll be happy if it’s a one-fight card. That’s how much I like Bivol vs. Beterbiev wants to see,” Ade Oladipo said YouTube channel, talking about the light heavyweight clash between unified champion Artur Beterbiev and belt holder Dmitri Bivol on October 12.
Ade is right. It could have been much better if the promoters had skipped the undercard and just put Beterbiev vs. Bivol as the only combat focused. Of course, no one does, but it would have been better than having a bunch of mismatches that have no compelling value. As far as I can tell, the only fight on the undercard that is competitive on paper is the rematch between heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke.
“I think it’s going to be sensational – a puncher against a boxer, and both Russians,” Ade said of the Beterbiev-Bivol clash. “They both trained on the Russian team. Beterbiev was a senior, and Bivol was a junior. Sometimes I feel that Beterbiev looks down on Bivol, ‘You are a junior.’ I can’t wait for this.”
Bivol (33) is the favorite to win this fight among fans and oddsmakers, but Beterbiev may spring a surprise. The question mark over Beterbiev is whether his recently injured knee is 100%. He hasn’t had much time to rehabilitate it, and he may not be at full capacity for this game.
“You have a lot of personalities on this card and the co-main event between Shakur Stevenson and Joe Cordina,” Ade said. “Some have criticized it. I criticized it a bit. I understand why Joe is taking this fight; when it comes to your table and your Joe Cordina, I mean, the co-head for Bivol-Beterbiev.
You get paid, and you get the chance to fight pound-for-pound. If you beat him, it’s (awesome). I understand that. For Shakur Stevenson, it’s a strange one. You’re fighting a guy who’s moving up a weight class. Yes, I know Joe has fought at lightweight before.”
You can’t blame Cordina for taking on this fight. He is well paid and given an immediate title shot after losing his IBF super featherweight title to Anthony Cacace last May. You don’t see too many former champions being given immediate title shots that don’t involve a rematch with the fighter who beat them.
Cordina had trouble making 130, which would explain why he chose not to push for a rematch against Cacace. However, given how one-sided that fight was, it is doubtful that he would have chosen to fight him again because the outcome would have been bad for him.
“You’re fighting a guy who’s moving up a weight class, who’s coming off a loss,” Ade said. “It’s a strange one. Were there no other 135-pounders? If it’s a case of Eddie (Hearn) signing him (Stevenson) to a one-fight or two-fight deal, and it’s Eddie doing Joe a favor. I don’t know.”
There were plenty of 135-pounders Hearn could have used as Shakur’s opponents, but some of them probably would have beaten him. That wouldn’t have been good for Hearn, as he is interested in signing Shakur to a long-term deal next year. Plus he throws a leg to Cordina, who now needs a hand because he may be done as a fighter. It will be like a going away gift if he retires soon.
“This is a fight that has been criticized the most. It’s a shame for Joe because if he beat (Anthony) Cacace, Joe moves up, it’s a great match. Joe will ask some questions (of Shakur) because Joe is also a good boxer, and we know we can crack a little bit. At the end of the day it’s still boxer against boxer and Shakur is the better boxer,” Ade said.
