Promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter, Dmitry Bivol, is “ice cold” ahead of his fight against knockout artist Artur Beterbiev this Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) isn’t worried about what he’s up against, facing a fighter with a perfect KO record in Beterbiev (20, 20 KOs) in their undisputed championship.
IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev aren’t giving any hints about what he plans on doing on Saturday, but it’s obvious that he’s going to be on a seek-and-destroy mission for the entire fight. That’s how he always fights. The Matchroom promoter Hearn is counting on Bivol to be able to hold up under pressure and come away with victory so he can line up other clashes against big names.
Hearn views this matchup as the “biggest fight in boxing,” which is a good description because it involves two fighters at the peak of their careers. However, when Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury meet in 2025, you can’t call it the “biggest fight” in the sport because both are on the downside.
“Both guys have kind of dedicated their lives to the sport, but both guys have made their moves in their careers to follow their dreams in boxing,” said Eddie Hearn to DAZN about Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
“So many fighters have had success early against Beterbiev, but no one has been able to keep him off,” said Hearn. “Dmitry is ice cold. So is Artur, to be fair. Here, for me, you’ve got two of the best fighters in the world, two pound-for-pound greats. I actually think this is the best fight in boxing.”
Bivol is going to have to figure out a way to keep Beterbiev off of him because his usual style of delivering shots on bombing raids, and then exciting probably won’t be effective.
“Both guys are tough, focused, that mentality, that real stoic, I’m going to do it. That’s their mentality,” said promoter Frank Warren. “It’s an intriguing fight. You’ve got four belts there, and someone is going to walk away with those belts.”
“The thing I love about him is he’s going to come in for the kill and go for the knockout,” said Top Rank president Todd Dubois about Beterbiev. “Both guys independently have an incredible body of work, and their styles just complement each other.”
