Former Lightweight World Champion Anthony Crolla shares his thoughts on the undisputed clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol as well as the undercard.
All the belts are on the line when Beterbiev and Bivol go toe-to-toe in Saudi Arabia. It’s a boxing fan’s fantasy fight, but because of Turki Alalshikh, it’s actually happening!
It is a phenomenal card with fantastic fights from start to finish and has been put together as part of Riyadh Season. I’ll get to the main event in a bit, but I’m excited about every bout
Ben Whittaker will have plenty of eyes on him when he gets in with Liam Cameron, who is a winner in life after overcoming his demons after receiving a very harsh ban over a recreational drug issue, and then losing his stepdaughter in a tragic accident.
It’s going to be a tough night for Liam, there’s no denying that, Ben is an unbelievable talent, but he still has a lot to prove. He loves to showboat, and that’s fine, but if you want to be a bit like Prince Naseem, then you’ve got to start taking your opponents out! I think this fight will go the distance again with a points win for the showman. Fair play to Ben, he knows how to get attention. My little lad and all his mates are all over him on Tik Tok – he does massive numbers.
There’s a top female fight between Skye Nicolson and Raven Chapman. It’s a real contrast of styles with Skye being a slickster, very hard to hit, against Raven who’s a great pressure fighter with a good engine on her. I reckon Skye will be on the backfoot with Raven trying to hunt her down. I think Skye will build up an early lead and while it will get uncomfortable for her in the later rounds, I think she’ll win a close points decision. It’s definitely the biggest test of both girls’ careers.
I’ve got to be honest; I know very little about Chris Eubank Jr’s opponent Kamil Szeremeta. I’m not being disrespectful, but this is the one fight on the card I’m not as excited about. I do think Eubank is entertaining though and I would imagine he’ll put on a show and get the stoppage around the midway point.
Looking at the big heavyweights, I honestly can’t pick a winner between Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley who drew in a barnstormer a few months ago. You look at this and think, ‘who could improve more from the first fight?’ I then lean towards Fabio Wardley because of his inexperience, but there were so many times in the fight that it looked like one lad had it wrapped up, then it would swing the other way. Both men are confident, it could be fight of the night, but I honestly can’t make up my mind. I really don’t know and I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to sit on the fence!
There’s another belter in the cruiserweight division with a rising star of the sport in Jai Opetaia against Jack Massey. Jai is a very violent man! I’m a big fan. But listen, Jack’s got a great attitude, and he jumped in with Joe Parker up at heavyweight and gave a great account of himself. He won’t be fazed, and ‘one smack’ Jack can whack! That said, in a bit of a shootout, the smart money has to be on Jai by stoppage around round six.
Now to the light-heavyweights, and it’s a main event that is splitting opinion massively. I have my prediction, but I might change my mind! You have a fighter in Beterbiev who carries unbelievable power, but he’s a lot more than just that. Then you have someone in Bivol who has a style capable of beating him. Both are unbeaten, fighting for all the marbles and it is a truly fascinating fight. I just don’t know whether Bivol has the firepower to keep Beterbiev off. When he beat my mate Callum Smith – who hits very hard – he just couldn’t get Beterbiev’s respect. I could be wrong because Bivol might well box a very disciplined fight and outpoint him like he did to Canelo. But my prediction is a Beterbiev win by late stoppage, around rounds nine or ten.
Anthony Crolla is a brand ambassador for Freebets.com, the home of betting sites.
