Beterbiev Vs Bivol preview: Undisputed superfight on Saturday

RIYADH: Artur Beterbiev will face off against Dmitry Bivol in a bout that will see them put up all four light heavyweight championship belts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

An undisputed light heavyweight champion will be crowned in less than a days’ time, as the 39-year old Beterbiev risks his World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organisation (WBO), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles, for the chance of completing his collection with Dmitry Bivol’s World Boxing Association (WBA) belt.

TWO OF THE BEST

The superfight not only pits the two best light heavyweights against each other, but two of the best boxers in the world, with Beterbiev and Bivol being ranked pound for pound number six and seven respectively, by The Ring Magazine.

The two Russians were first scheduled to faceoff on June 1, but after a ruptured meniscus side-lined Beterbiev in May, the bout was rescheduled for October 12.

Beterbiev is currently the only champion in boxing to have a 100 per cent knockout rate, winning all twenty of his bouts in emphatic manner. Bivol on the other hand presents a boxing pedigree that few others in the sport can match, something he demonstrated when he outclassed The Ring‘s pound for pound number four, and the first ever undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez, back in 2022.

Both Bivol and Beterbiev represented Russia in the country’s amateur squad.

“We knew each other but we didn’t talk,” Beterbiev told Sky Sportsreminiscing on his time with the national squad.

“At that time of course I couldn’t imagine, I couldn’t imagine that I would fight for four belts, undisputed,” Bivol told Sky Sports.

PRESS CONFERENCE

“It makes me more excited,” Bivol said in a press conference on Friday after being asked if facing an opponent with a dominant resume like Beterbiev’s makes him nervous.

Then Beterbiev was asked how he expects to solve the puzzle of Dmitry Bivol, something that even Canelo Alvarez couldn’t do.

“It is not my business, Canelo or someone, I have now fight in Saturday, I’m focused only for this fight,” the unified champion said.

“Some have been winning fights against Artur, but they all get knocked out, why are you different?” the press conference moderator asked Bivol.

“I don’t know, I just different, I just have different name, just different body, different skills,” Bivol answered, adding that “this is why it’s so interesting fight, because we all know that everybody’s different.”

The 39-year old unified champion is in for the toughest fight of his life, just three months before he turns 40. It will be an equally tough challenge for Bivol, as he faces a man that no one has been able to take the distance.