By Tim Royner: Oscar Rivas will be fighting on a Matchroom card on January 30 or 31 in Miami, Florida, according to @MBoulayJDM. This will be a fight that will be shown on DAZN. The headliner is expected to be IBF super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer vs. Joseph ‘Jo Jo Diaz.
The January fight for Rivas would set-up a potential bigger fight against a top 5 heavyweight in the division. There are a lot of interesting options for Rivas to fight in Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom stable. These are some of the appealing names:
- Michael Hunter
- Filip Hrgovic
- Dereck Chisora
- Dillian Whyte – rematch
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Joseph Parker
Hopefully for Rivas’ sake, Hearn doesn’t put him in with someone like Dave Allen or David Price. That wouldn’t be good for him.
Negotiations still underway between Rivas & Matchroom
2008 Olympian Rivas (26-1, 18 KOs) last fought on July 20 in losing a 12 round unanimous decision to Matchroom fighter Dillian Whyte in London, England. It was learned afterwards that Whyte had tested positive for a banned substance, but the fight was allowed to go ahead.
Rivas’ promoter Yvon Michel is negotiating with Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn to place him on the card in January. As of now, the fight contract isn’t signed.
“We are still discussing with them and we have nothing signed,” said Yvon Michel to journaldemontreal.com. “For the moment, there is a stumbling block. However, I do not want to negotiate in the public square. ”
Rivas’ management are looking to get a long-term deal with Hearn, which could make him a lot of money. It’s unclear how many fights they’re looking for. It’s unknown what Rivas would need to do for him to sign with Hearn. Rivas is obviously not happy with transpired in the Whyte fight in learning about the positive test.
Despite the issues surrounding the Rivas fight, Whyte plans on fighting next month on December 7 in Saudi Arabia. Whyte hasn’t been suspended by UKAD, who still haven’t revealed the results of his B-sample. The WBC has suspended Whyte as their interim and mandatory challenger at heavyweight.
Hearn isn’t happy about that. He feels that Whyte should be allowed to fight because he wasn’t suspended by UKAD. However, it’s unknown how long it’ll take for UKAD to reveal the results of Whyte’s B-sample. If it takes more than a year, Whyte will be able to get in quite a few fights before the results are eventually announced.
Oscar Rivas coming off loss to Whyte
Rivas is 32-years-old, and still fighting at a high level. In his fight against Whyte, Rivas dropped him in the 9th round. Whyte was hurt by a body shot from Rivas in the last 20 seconds of the 12th, but the referee stopped the action, believing it was a low blow. He then gave Whyte time to recover. That move may have cost Rivas the fight, as he had Whyte badly hurt. The fight took place in London, England.
A rematch between Whyte and Rivas would be of great interest to boxing fans, but Hearn is unlikely to go in that direction.