NEW undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is willing to move up in weight or even down to enhance his boxing legacy.
The 34-year-old defeated rival Artur Beterbiev last night in their Riyadh rematch by majority decision and take all four world titles at 175lbs.
Bivol, 24-1 (12 KOs), now has a host of options for his next fight including a trilogy bout with Beterbiev, a move to cruiserweight or journey south to super middleweight.
Today Bivol spoke to Boxing News while the champion was on his way to the airport and chatted about what may lie ahead for him.
“Before Turki Alalshikh asked me about cruiserweight potential fight and cruiserweight,” he revealed. “[Jai] Opetaia, yeah, But now, today, I don’t want to think about boxing at all because I didn’t have plans to be honest to what I’m going to do after this fight. I was living only until this fight.
“First of all, I need to rest a little bit, talk with my team, with Turki Alalshikh to see what is going on. To see what people want to see, to get some offer and say yes to this offer.”
A move to cruiserweight would require a 25lb hike to go up against someone like the IBF titlist Opetaia. The number two cruiserweight in the world, Gilberto Ramirez, is also the unified champion but lost to Bivol at light heavyweight in November 2022.
“I could go also 168, I think,” he said. “Now maybe I am a little bit bigger and I don’t want too much pressure on my body. And I don’t know what’s in cruiserweight now.”
There has, however, been one long running option for Bivol and would take him into another rematch. In May 2022 Canelo Alvarez moved up to light heavyweight for a second time but this time fought Bivol and not a past-his-best Sergey Kovalev who succumbed to an 11th round knockout surrendering his WBO world title in the process. Against Bivol, though, Canelo could do little to put a dent in the then WBA champion who beat the Mexican star with something to spare.
Canelo has often mentioned a possible rematch and getting the chance to avenge his loss. Bivol told BN he welcomes the idea but with one condition.
“I want to fight for the belts. This is first of all what I want and I want to fight for my legacy. I want to get some benefits from the fight. Not about money it’s only to be remembered in the mind of people, to be remembered in boxing history.”
