The undisputed light-heavyweight championship between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol has a new date and venue confirmed. Sponsored by the Saudi Arabia-based Riyadh Season, the two will be fighting each other in a historic matchup at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 12th.
The initial fight between Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO’s) and Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KO’s) found itself postponed after Beterbiev suffered an injury during preparation for a June 1st fight against Bivol. October 12th is now the new date, with the Kingdom Arena continuing to be the venue where the two light-heavyweights (175 lbs) will compete to become the first undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
The last undisputed light-heavyweight champion was American legend Roy Jones Jr. who enjoyed a three-year reign as undisputed champion from 1999 to 2002 while in possession of the WBA, WBC and IBF titles.
The two fighters, both whom are of Russian origin, will also be putting their unbeaten records on the line as they finally aim to meet each other in the ring after years of reigning in the same weight class without facing each other.
Dmitry Bivol notably retains an advantage when it comes to activity―having last competed on June 1st this year to net a rare stoppage win over Libyan opponent Malik Zinad (22-1, 16 KO’s). In comparison, Artur Beterbiev has five more months of inactivity under his belt after last retaining his WBC, WBO and IBF 175 lbs titles against Callum Smith (29-2, 21 KO’s) in January.
However, with Beterbiev boasting a 100% KO ratio throughout all of his past twenty fights, the Canadian-Russian continues to remain Bivol’s most difficult opponent he has to face. Likely in lieu of Beterbiev’s recent injuries, he is currently regarded as a mild underdog against Bivol, with at least 3 oddsmakers of a total of 4 tipping Bivol to come through with a hard-earned victory.
As has become accustomed with Riyadh Season-sponsored fights, the undercard will see an array of prevalent fighters participate in the event, including:
- a lightweight (135 lbs) title bout [12 rounds] between American WBC champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO’s) and British contender Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KO’s).
- a heavyweight (200+ lbs) rematch [12 rounds] between British behemoths Fabio Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KO’s) and Frazer Clarke (8-0-1, 6 KO’s). Wardley will be defending his British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) British title once more after retaining it following his split-decision draw with Wardley following their last fight.
- a cruiserweight (200 lbs) world title match [12 rounds] which will see IBF Australian champion Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KO’s) be defending his recently-won title against British contender Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KO’s).
- a women’s featherweight (126 lbs) title bout [10 rounds] between Australian WBC champion Skye Nicolson (11-0, 1 KO’s) and British challenger Raven Chapman (9-0, 2 KO’s).
- a non-title middleweight (160 lbs) bout [12 rounds] between British veteran Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KO’s) and Kamil Szeremeta (25-2-2, 8 KO’s).
