Promoter Eddie Hearn laughs at the criticism that Dmitry Bivol has been receiving from fans and the media for him choosing to relinquish his WBC light heavyweight title to swerve his WBC-ordered mandatory David Benavidez.
Hearn’s Dismissal
Hearn asks why Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) would avoid Benavidez when he’s fought the dangerous Artur Beterbiev twice and Canelo Alvarez. He thinks it’s a silly idea. Fans believe Bivol did duck Benavidez because he’s young and has a style that is all wrong for him.
Bivol will be fighting a trilogy against 40-year-old Beterbiev later this year. According to Hearn, Dmitry will get a bigger purse in the third fight with Artur than the $8 million that he would have made fighting Benavidez.
“He fought Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo in Las Vegas, and he fought the biggest beast probably in the history of the light heavyweight division twice in Artur Beterbiev, a guy that had destroyed every opponent he ever faced inside the distance,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, insisting that Dmitry Bivol didn’t duck a fjght against his WBC mandatory David Benavidez in favor of a money-fight against the faded, slow 40-year-old Artur Beterbiev.
There’s a big difference between Bivol fighting the much smaller 5’8″ Canelo Alvarez than taking on the huge 6’0 1/2″ ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. Canelo doesn’t even count. Beterbiev, 40, defeated Bivol in their first fight and fought well enough to deserve a draw in their rematch.
The Saudis paid Bivol massive money for the two fights against Beterbiev. Bravery has nothing to do with it. With the money they were paying Bivol, he’d have likely agreed to fight IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois or IBF cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia.
“David Benavidez is a great fighter, but to think that Dmitry Bivol would avoid David Benavidez is one of the strangest agendas I’ve ever heard pedaled. But I’m sure many fighters don’t want to fight Benavidez,” said Hearn.
Public Perception
Fans will believe the worst about Bivol because he chose to relinquish his WBC belt rather than face ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. That looks like a textbook example of a duck move. They won’t listen to Hearn because they know he’s Bivol’s promoter. That’s the problem. What do you expect fans to think?
When they see Bivol choosing to swerve a dangerous younger fighter that is a bad style matchup for him in favor of an older, slower guy that he just beat, it’s a no-brainer that he’s ducking. You can’t blame Bivol for doing so because nobody wants to fight Benavidez if they know they will lose.
“When we say, ‘Avoided,’ I’ve got Callum Smith. We’re now talking to Luis DeCubas and PBC about fighting David Benavidez. Do you think Callum Smith is avoiding him? No. He’s well up for the fight,” said Hearn.
“I know there have been previous fighters that haven’t faced him, but I think you have to respect Bivol’s resume as a fighter and his mindset. He certainly wouldn’t be afraid to fight David Benavidez. That’s a great fight. I think it’ll happen, but there’s nothing we can do when we have a contract to do the third fight. Plus, we gave our word because His Excellency has done amazing things for Dmitry Bivol,” said Hearn.
We don’t know if Callum Smith will take the fight with Benavidez, do we? Callum is the WBO interim 175-lb champion, and he’s better off waiting to get a lucrative fight against the winner of the Bivol vs. Beterbiev 3 fight than facing Benavidez for his WBC title and losing for less money.
It’s questionable whether Smith will agree to take that fight when he’s better off just waiting to fight whoever emerges victorious from the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 fight.
