Bivol Wants Beterbiev For Undisputed In June

In some top boxing news, Dmitry Bivol has expressed his desire to fight for the undisputed light heavyweight title against Artur Beterbiev in June, next year.

Bivol’s time in the ring has been impacted by a variety of issues of late. The holder of the WBA belt has not fought in almost a year after having beaten Zurdo Ramirez in 2022 via a unanimous decision.

The victory was then followed up by various struggles to get the champion a next fight. After having beaten Canelo Alvarez via a unanimous decision, there were talks over having a rematch.

That failed to materialize as Alvarez wanted a rematch at light heavyweight, while Bivol targeted a fight at 168. A hand injury then kept Bivol out for sometime, as his relevance was questioned.

Although that may have been the case, Eddie Hearn recently stated that the boxer could return in January. And provided that he gets a win, then a fight for all the belts could happen.

"Every time I hope for the next fight [to be against Beterbiev], but he, of course, has a fight. I ask my team how we can. I like it. I need to make a fight [in January] and then make a fight in June or July. It’s better June," Bivol

Despite this being the case, the WBC’s stance on Russian fighters did complicate matters. Due to the war in Ukraine, the organization prevented fighters from competing for their belt.

And yet, Mauricio Sulaiman has previously addressed this, stating Bivol has the right to go through an appeal process.

"We have explained consistently several times that Bivol has to contact the WBC and put his case forward, explaining why the WBC should not consider him Russian. Because we do not allow any boxing in Russia or Belarus, we don’t rank any boxers from Russia or Belarus and we don’t [give] any support [to] any activity of a WBC fight involving those two countries.

“He has never contacted the WBC for months. It’s very simple. If he believes he’s being mistreated and that we should have a different status [he should have reached out to us]—I’ve said it many times.  He’s [Beterbiev] been 15 years in Canada. He has a passport, boxing license from Canada. His kids were born in Canada. It’s a very different scenario," WBC President Sulaiman

Nevertheless, if that does not happen, then Bivol did not rule out a fight at 168. Outside of Canelo, fights against Caleb Plant, David Morrell Jr. and David Benavidez could be on the cards.

A win could then put Bivol in line for a title shot against Canelo, who may then have to face him.

"I think it’s easier for me to move down to 168 than it is to move up [to cruiserweight] for me," Bivol

Ultimately, Bivol will be hoping to get back in the ring as fast as possible. And that is the most important thing to remember moving forward.

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