Bivol, Dubois And Hrgovic Will Fight On December 23rd In Saudi

In the latest boxing news, Dmitry Bivol will face Lyndon Arthur on December 23rd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the WBA light heavyweight champion makes a defense of his title. 

Bivol has been out of the boxing ring since his win over Zurdo Ramirez in 2022 as a hand injury had kept him out for longer than anticipated.

In addition, there were difficulties in getting the next opponent as fights with Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Yarde were a few names mentioned, only to not materialize.

Thereafter, a fight with Richard Rivera was teased on the Saudi card before Arthur was confirmed. A win for Bivol will keep the hopes of an undisputed fight alive, as the target will be the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Callum Smith. 

On the same card, Filip Hrgovic will face Mark De Mori in an IBF interim belt defense. The Croatian is currently in line to face the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk since the IBF will require the winner of the undisputed fight to automatically defend against Hrgovic or be stripped.

The latter’s last fight was a 12th round stoppage of Demsey McKean to give him the first defeat of his career. Meanwhile, De Mori has 11 wins on the bounce, but at the age of 41, Hrgovic will prove a tough test. Elsewhere, Daniel Dubois and Jarrell Miller will face off in a heavyweight clash.

The former will be looking to bounce back from his ninth-round-stoppage defeat to Usyk after having dropped the Ukrainian in the fifth round only for the punch to be deemed a low blow.

Despite appealing the loss on the basis that the punch was not a low blow, the WBA upheld the decision. As for Miller, the boxer is looking to bounce back from his drug testing scandal that prevented his fight with Anthony Joshua.

But since Miller was not licensed, the boxer did not get a ban. A further failed test against Jerry Foster in 2020 followed. Since then, a 31-month ban followed that was finished in June. Following that, Miller beat Lucas Browne to secure his position here in Saudi.

And that stacked out card has justified Warren’s previous comments.

“There’s gonna be a big night in December, and we’ll be announcing very soon. It will be massive. You’re gonna love it. I can’t give you all the information at the moment, but everything’s going in the right direction for it to be a historic night in boxing. It’s gonna feature boxers from all over the word. You will be surprised by the names. There’s some great British fighters too,” Warren stated 

Full Card So Far

Anthony Joshua vs Otto Wallin

Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker

Dmitry Bivol vs Lyndon Arthur

Jai Opetaia vs Ellis Zorro

Daniel Dubois vs Jarrell Miller

Arslanbek Makhmudov vs Agit Kabayel

Frank Sanchez vs Junior Fa

Fillip Hrgovic vs Mark De Mori