Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol will meet in a non-PPV event on ESPN+ on October 12th in their 12-round headliner at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Top Rank announced the fight today. It’s an unusual setup with ESPN+ showing one fight, Beterbiev-Bivol, and the rest of the card on another network.
Beterbiev vs Bivol: A 50-50 Clash
IBF, WBC, and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) will be facing his toughest test in years in facing WBA champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs). The oddsmakers have Bivol as the favorite, but it’s seen as a 50-50 one by hardcore boxing fans. Bivol hasn’t fought anyone like Beterbiev before, and he’s already been hurt in several of his fights by lesser punchers.
The undercard will be shown on PPV on a different network for $14.99. Shakur Stevenson will defend his WBA lightweight title against Joe Cordina. Given how he performed in his last two fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos, it’s not the ideal time for Shakur to fight on PPV.
It would have been wiser for Shakur to rematch De Los Santos but with better judges and a quality referee because his win last November was questionable because he ran the whole fight.
Shakur-Cordina PPV Faces Backlash
Social media fans are overwhelmingly refusing to order the Shakur-Cordina PPV portion of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol card, even though it’s priced at a fan-friendly $14.99. You don’t see fights priced that low anymore, and the credit for that goes to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh.
People have a problem because Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) isn’t seen as an entertaining fighter. What makes it worse is that his opponent, former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), was knocked out in his last fight on May 18th. It looks like Shakur is being given a warmup to boost his standing with fans, which wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t sold on PPV.
The undercard for the October 12th PPV section of the event will have these fighters:
- Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
- Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke II
- Jai Opetaia vs. Jack Massey
- Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman
- Mohammed Alamel vs. Jose Gonzalez
