Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol made their Grand Arrivals today for their undisputed light heavyweight championship contest on Saturday, October 12th, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both fighters seemed pretty talked out, having been interviewed many times in recent weeks to discuss their fight for the four belts.
IBF/WBC/WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) confirmed that his right knee is healthy and that he is not having problems after his recent surgery between late April and May for a blown meniscus.
“This is one of the hardest parts when you should forget about everybody who is bothering you and all opinions in the world, and you have to be only with your positive side,” said Dmitry Bivol to DAZN Boxing during today’s Grand Arrivals in Riyadh for his fight against Artur Beterbiev. “I hope it’ll be a great fight, and I hope I will win. I will do my best. ”
“Every boxer wants to have an opportunity like this, and I’m really happy,” said Beterbiev. “I’m not thinking about it, but I’m going toward this goal every day. We do some training for weight cut. Very simple things,” said Beterbiev on what he’ll be doing between now and Saturday.
Weight won’t be an issue for this fight because neither guy has problems getting down to 175. Beterbiev is the smaller of the two, and he’s perfect for the division.
“When you look at the Canelo fight, he won that fight comfortably. That was the pound-for-pound #1 on the planet, but this is a bigger guy [Beterbiev], a stronger guy, a guy that can punch harder,” said Eddie Hearn to BoxNation about the Bivol vs. Beterbiev fight.
“Yeah, just because of the weight disparity,” said Hearn when asked if it’ll be a bigger deal for Bivol to defeat Beterbiev when when he beat Canelo in 2022. “You always have the excuse with the Canelo fight, ‘Yeah, it was a light heavyweight, and Canelo is a 168.’ This is a massive 175-pounder.
“If he [Bivol] wins this fight, he’s beaten Canelo Alvarez, the pound-for-pound #1, and Beterbiev to become undisputed. This is a fight for legacy for both men. For people that know the sport, a victory on Saturday gives both guys Hall of Fame status and generational greatness.
“Canelo Alvarez will want the rematch [against Bivol]. He’ll want to avenge that defeat. [Canelo’s manager and trainer] Eddy Reynoso knows that’s a very tough fight, but with the carrot of the undisputed at 175, all of a sudden, that fight becomes that much more compelling to Canelo Alvarez. So, victory for Dmitry will give him all kinds of options because he’ll have every belt in the division,” said Hearn.
If Hearn is lucky, Canelo will still want to fight Bivol, even if he’s beaten by Beterbiev on Saturday night. Canelo would still have unfinished business due to his loss in 2022, and the only thing that would change is that there would be no belts at stake.
Fans wouldn’t care. They just want to see them fight again so that Canelo can try and avenge his one-sided loss from two years ago.
