WITHIN the last six months, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev have met on two occasions, but fans still struggle to separate the light-heavyweight duo. Each man registered a majority decision win in a pair of closely fought battles.
Now, following recent rumours that Bivol, 24-1 (12 KOs), could next face WBC mandatory challenger David Benavidez, 30-0 (24 KOs), it seems as though a rubber match is around the corner. It has now been announced that Bivol has decided to vacate the WBC marble rather than take on ‘The Mexican Monster’.
Bivol suffered his first career defeat when he faced Beterbiev, 21-1 (20 KOs), back in October. He took the Canadian-Russian the distance for the first time in his professional career but was unfortunate to lose out on the scorecards after a tough-to-score encounter.
In their rematch, Bivol was able to reverse that decision and claim a similar majority decision victory, boxing excellently during the second half of the contest. Bivol did enough in the eyes of the judges and come out on top after a second enthralling and highly technical clash – although others felt as though Beterbiev could’ve got the decision.
Despite the score being one apiece, whispers suggested that a third instalment of Bivol-Beterbiev could be either put on ice or moved away from altogether. The general consensus is that both men are simply as good as each other and that a third fight would likely be as undecisive as the first two.
However, it has now been revealed that Bivol has decided to vacate his WBC world title, swerving Benavidez in favour of a third showdown with Beterbiev, which is expected to go ahead in October, as per Dan Rafael.
As a result, the WBC have decided to upgrade Benavidez from interim champion to full world champion. It will be intriguing to see if other sanctioning bodies follow suit before the touted October showdown. The IBF have continuously threatened to strip Bivol over the last six months.
Should the IBF decide to do so, Germany’s Michael Eifert, 13-1 (5 KOs), and Australia-based Conor Wallace, 15-1 (11 KOs), are the men poised to capitalise, with a bout for the vacant title expected to take place, rather than either being automatically upgraded.
