Matchroom Boxing officially announced the full undercard for the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry light heavyweight clash for the October 12th event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As leaked this week, Shakur Stevenson will face Joe Cordina in the chief support bout. The event will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
Shakur’s Fall from Grace
It’s a rare undercard placement for WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs), but he’s lost appeal with fans after two consecutive abysmal performances.
Fans would have preferred that promoter Eddie Hearn use Raymond Muratalla, Edwin De Los Santos, or Andy Cruz as Shakur’s opponent for the co-feature slot than Cordina.
The keeper on the undercard is the heavyweight rematch between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke. That fight, by far, is the best one on the undercard by a mile.
Showcase Fights
The remaining portion of the undercard features a mix of well-known fighters facing opposition they shouldn’t have any problems beating. In other words, there are six showcase fights on the undercard and one good clash between Wardley and Clarke.
A 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄 night approaching 🔥 The #BeterbievBivol undercard is set!
October 12 just got even bigger! 🇸🇦 #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/Mns04DrqwW
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) August 20, 2024
Middleweight Chris Eubank Jr’s match against Kamil Szeremeta is a disappointing one because he’s facing a non-contender. For Eubank Jr, 34, to be on the card, he should be matched against a top 15-ranked fighter at this late stage of his career.
Eubank Jr. has been around for too many years to be still fighting low-level opposition, while bleating about wanting a fight against Canelo Alvarez. He should be fighting someone like IBF/WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly or WBC champion Carlos Adames.
Shakur’s opponent, former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), has never fought at lightweight and is coming off an eighth-round knockout last May by Anthony Cacace. Cordina’s fans maintain he was weight drained, but he’d looked just as bad in his two previous fights, but his opponents just weren’t good enough to do what Cacace did to him.
