Artur Beterbiev has suffered a knee injury that will leave him out until at least September according to reports, forcing his June 1st undisputed light-heavyweight bout against Dmitry Bivol to be postponed. While Beterbiev will be removed from the 5 vs. 5 card due to his injury, Bivol is still set to fight on the card but will no longer headline the event as heavyweight contenders Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang step up to main-event on June 1st.
The Matchroom vs. Queensberry Promotions concept will now take center stage on June 1st with designated Matchroom “captain” Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO’s) and Queensberry fighter Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KO’s) confirmed to be headlining the show, while simultaneously serving as the last and main fight of the 5 vs. 5 fixture.
The rest of the 5 vs. 5 fights will continue as scheduled, with Filip Hrgovic still set to defend his IBF interim heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois, Raymond Ford to be involved in his first title defense against Nick Ball at 126 lbs. Further complementing the card are non-title bouts between super middleweights Austin Williams and Hamzah Sheeraz, and Craig Richards will meet Willy Hutchinson in the ring at 175 lbs.
As Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO’s) has suffered a ruptured meniscus, forcing him to pull out of the June 1st card as he reportedly awaits surgery, Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KO’s) is now expected to defend his WBA title against Libyan 175 lbs contender Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KO’s).
Zinad is currently ranked #2 with the IBF, and #17 with the WBC but has no position on the WBA’s light-heavyweight rankings, Once again, there appears to be some confusion in how sanctioning bodies operate, with former cruiserweight IBF champion Jai Opetaia actually stripped for fighting an opponent not ranked on the IBF’s 200 lbs rankings, while Bivol faces no such repercussions despite Zinad not being ranked by the WBA either.
One might explain Zinad’s position with the IBF as the #2 light-heavyweight contender as the reason he qualifies for a shot at the WBA title, but the two organizations are separate and do not base their decisions on each other’s rankings. This matter only serves to demonstrate the extreme stringency that exists within the IBF, and the lack of stringency as it pertains to the WBA; showcasing once more the inorganization that exists within the sport of boxing.
Malik Zinad will be involved in his first world title fight when he fights Dmitry Bivol on June 1st; a position he was close to anyway given his #2-ranked position with the IBF―with only German contender Michael Eifert ranked above him as he stands at #1.
While Zinad appears to be coming in at late notice, there still appears to be enough time for him to prepare for a fight with Bivol―especially if he had been preparing for another bout beforehand. Moreover, Bivol will have based his training on fighting Beterbiev and will now need to adjust to facing an entirely different opponent with a different style of fighting; a fact that can work to Zinad’s advantage as he will likely know more about Bivol than vice-versa.
Though an undisputed light-heavyweight fight between Beterbiev and Bivol is by far the more interesting and pivotal fight, the Bivol-Zinad bout will nonetheless be of interest with both fighters likely to be scrambling to prepare against each other properly; which is a recipe for upsets if the March 30th fight between Tim Tszyu and Sebastian Fundora is any indication.
