Following Oleksandr Usyk‘s historic undisputed win in the heavyweight ranks, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will have the chance to do the same down at 175lbs.
The last man to do it in the light-heavyweight division was one Roy Jones Jr and both champions are worthy of joining that man in the history books.
Bivol – who brings the WBA title to the table – builds off an exceptional jab to carefully and precisely attack opponents who can’t find their own rythym. Beterbiev – the WBC, WBO and IBF champ – is a wrecking machine, the only current world champion to have won every single bout by stoppage.
Both undefeated, the fighters have torn through the division without much challenge, all the while being called on to face one another. That will finally happy this year.
On the 3 Knockdown Rule podcast, Usyk backed Bivol to avoid the same fate of every other Beterbiev opponent and become four-belt champion.
“I guess Bivol. He has good legs, good movement. I watched the fight with Canelo Alvarez. Good boxing, defending, counter-punching and combinations.”
It’s perhaps no surprise that a fighter like Usyk backs the boxer over the brawler, though it would be unfair to describe Beterbiev simply as that.
The fight was first set to take place on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but when Beterbiev ruptured his meniscus in training it was pushed back to October 12 in the same location.
Like Fury-Usyk, the bout is too close to call for many in the sport – a truly deserving battle to become the sole ruler of the light-heavyweight ranks.
