Hearn Expects Bivol Back By January, Targets An Undisputed Fight With Beterbiev

Eddie Hearn remains hopeful that Dmitry Bivol will be back in the ring in January with a view to then facing Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed title at 175.

The Russian has been out of the ring since his win over Zurdo Ramirez last year. However, there have been several obstacles since then that have prevented Biovl from fighting.

A rematch with Canelo Alvarez fell through after the weight class could not be agreed. The Mexican wanted to fight at 175 in order to avenge his loss. Meanwhile, Bivol favoured a fight at 168 pounds for all of Canelo’s belts to become undisputed.

In addition, a hand injury had hampered Bivol which is why his absence has been longer than expected. And to top it all off, the WBC’s stance on preventing Russian fighters from fighting for their belt due to the war in Ukraine has not made it possible to get the undisputed fight.

Bivol’s Struggles

“What’s the problem? I think there’s some other reason [they’re saying that]. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not the main problem keeping us from making the fight…Politics and sports are two different things. I hope one day it will be really clean – sports will be separated from politics. I really hope. Because all my life I’ve spent it boxing – I spent all my life in the boxing gym, and I just want to fight. I want to show people that you can achieve something if you work hard. Even if you come from a small city, you could be someone,” Bivol said

But for all the obstacles that were there, Hearn was hopeful of getting Bivol out soon.

Hearn On Bivol

“We’re mulling over an international fight for Dmitry, actually on the same night as Haney. We’ll see if that plays out. If not, he can still go December but maybe also very, very, very early January. But it’s still the frontrunner for him to get out in December,” Hearn

And provided that Bivol comes through his fight, the target is firmly the winner between Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. That would set up the undisputed fight potentially between two undefeated fighters.

In addition, it would open up more doors for bigger fights since Canelo and David Benavidez have not ruled out the prospect of moving up. So provided that the issues with the WBC can be fixed, Hearn was confident of making it happen.

“It’s kind of like just waiting for the Callum Smith-Beterbiev fight. We feel like we can make the winner of that fight, particularly against Callum. If it’s Beterbiev, I think that fight can still get made. But we will fight this year, or worst [case], first or second week of January,” Hearn

Bivol is arguably one of the best names in boxing, given the manner in which he dispatched Canelo. But there is only so long that the fighter can live off that win, which is why a return cannot come soon enough.