Promoter Bob Arum wants Artur Beterbiev to bypass his recently ordered IBF mandatory Michael Eifert to face Dmitry Bivol, Canelo Alvarez or David Benavidez next.
Top Rank boss Arum doesn’t want undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) to bother with Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs), who is a total unknown among American fans and will attract no interest not.
Given Beterbiev’s age, long career and recent injuries, it would be pointless for him to use one of his valuable last handful of career fights to defend against an obscure fighter like the 26-year-old Eifert, whose best career victory came recently. 40-year-old Jean Pascal.
Arum will jump at the chance to set up a fight between Beterbiev and Canelo Alvarez if the Mexican star shows interest in moving up to 175 to challenge him for his four belts.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he wants Beterbiev and Bivol to fight in a rematch after their fight last Saturday night in Riyadh. Eddie Hearn is promoting Bivol, and he may be able to persuade Turki to go for a rematch rather than a much bigger fight involving Canelo or Benavidez against Beterbiev.
Fans want Canelo for Beterbiev
Turki gave Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) the win, but the judges scored it for IBF, WBC and WBO champion Beterbiev based on him being the aggressor throughout the second half, hurting Bivol several times and putting him on took flight. .
It would be great for American fans if Canelo chooses to fight Beterbiev, because it’s a much better matchup than a rematch with Bivol, who is a defensive guy who has been playing away all night. Canelo would make it entertaining for fans.
“Bob Arum told me he intends to encourage Beterbiev to skip the IBF mandatory against Michael Eifert to fight Bivol, Benavidez or even Canelo again,” Keith Idec opined X over promoter Bob Arum wants undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev to face Canelo, Bivol or Benavidez next.
As long as Beterbiev is willing to vacate his IBF title if necessary to skip the Eifert fight, we could see him fight Bivol, Canelo or Benavidez next. If Canelo chooses not to move up to 175 to challenge Beterbiev, the winner of the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell showdown on January 25th would be a good option.
Bivol will be the third choice because it is a less attractive fight, and we already know how he will be on the run for 12 rounds, trying to win by doing the minimum.
What we don’t need is Beterbiev beating Bivol a second time and Hearn complaining that he should have won, calling on the sanctioning bodies to order a trilogy, and Turki crying that a third match is needed is. At some point, Hearn and Bivol have to accept that they are not good enough and join the back of the line with the other fighters who beat Beterbiev.
Crawford The last resort?
“I think that fight will happen if the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch goes forward for the undisputed, I think that will leave Canelo out there on the island where he’ll probably want a big fight that can compete and draw like the other fights ,” Antonio Tarver said Battle hype on the possibility of Canelo Alvarez choosing to fight Terence Crawford if he doesn’t move up to 175 to challenge Artur Beterbiev for his undisputed light heavyweight championship.
Canelo would be more open to fighting Crawford if he shows he’s not just looking for a retirement payday by moving up to 168 and proving himself against one of the killers in the division instead of asking for the bout not be given to him. It’s hard for Canelo to take Crawford seriously, with him barely winning his debut at 154 against Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3, then angling for a two-fight celebrity bout with aging former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
“So, if he doesn’t fight Beterbiev and Beterbiev gives Bivol a rematch, I think it would be a perfect time to bring a Canelo-Crawford to the surface to see how it plays out just to see how both legends get what they want to get off.
“I’d have to say because of the size and strength, and Bud moving up, you’re going to have to favor Canelo because of that. But I’m still going to look at a guy like Crawford, if somebody can upset Canelo at that level to go up move, it will be a guy with the skills of Crawford and the toughness of Crawford.”
Canelo has already said he’s not interested in fighting Crawford because it’s a no-win situation where he’ll be criticized no matter how the fight goes. Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, let the cat out of the bag already says how they plan to beat the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and using Dmitry Bivol blueprint against Canelo. This means that there will be a lot of pushing and pulling around the ring. Canelo doesn’t want to fight a runner his age, and you can’t blame him.
“That last fight against Madrimov showed a lot. He showed a lot because of his boxing,” Tarver said of Crawford who looked good and bad during his debut at 154 against WBA champion Israil Madrimov on August 3. “A lot of times you don’t need to hit to control someone in the ring.
“So, Bud was there and in control, and he knew he couldn’t stand there in the exchange. So, he boxed and fought him, all night long. He made Madrimov kind of desperate in the end, even though Madrimov stayed there. I knew it would be a tough fight, but Bud passed all the tests. We knew he had a chin. He cracked a few times with a lot of right hands. This is what I was looking to see. Can he land a punch from a 154 pounder?”
Crawford passed the test so far that he probably beat the fourth or fifth best fighter at 154, but he didn’t show the kind of ability that would allow him to beat the guys at the top. In other words, Crawford reached his ceiling with his fight against Madrimov, and if he faced the better fighters in the junior middleweight division, he would lose. Moving up to 168 to fight Canelo would be all about money. Crawford would be too small, weak and old to defeat the Mexican star.
Questions about Crawford’s readiness for fight at 168
“We knew Madrimov was not Canelo or any of those other boys. He is strong as an ox. So, Crawford proved he had a chin, but I don’t think he liked being touched by those 154-pounders. It’s not nice. It is different. That weight with that punch is a little different,” Tarver said.
Crawford did not seem to enjoy eating those right hands from Madrimov though. There was one series where Crawford was hit five times in a row with right hands from Madrimov, and each shot snapped his head back. Had Madrimov attacked more aggressively in the championship rounds, he might have knocked Crawford out. It was Madrimov’s mistake to choose to box rather than go for the finish.
“Oh yeah, a complete fighter. Bud has proven that, a boxer-puncher and counter-puncher. He can do everything,” Tarver said when asked if Crawford proved in his last fight against Madrimov that he is a complete fighter is. “Inoue is one of those fighters. It takes a lot of experience to become a complete fighter.”
Crawford didn’t prove to be a puncher at 154 in his fight against Madrimov. His power didn’t look formidable at all in that fight, and it seemed clear that he wasn’t going to be the same fighter he was at this weight class as he was at 147, 140 or 135. That might explain why Crawford hasn’t shown much interest in fighting the other champions at 154 since the Madrimov fight, which he barely won.
“That’s where the gap is. They want to get up there without the experience factor, and if you don’t get the experience, then you have to get the experience from somewhere, from someone who got it,” Tarver said.
