By Jeff Aronow: Dmitry Bivol is rumored to be defending his WBA light heavyweight title against John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder in the co-feature spot on October 30th on the Dillian Whyte card at the O2 Arena in London, England. This card will be shown live on DAZN.
For all intents and purposes, Ryder will be walking the plank in facing Bivol. This is a total mismatch on paper, but it should be good fun while it lasts.
Bivol doesn’t possess the type of power that Ryder should be worried about. If anything, Bivol will outbox Ryder, and if he does knock him out, it’ll be a situation of ‘The Gorilla’ having taken too much punishment over the course of the bout.
Ryder has been in with a bigger puncher than Bivol before in his fight with Callum Smith in 2019, and he did well. Unfortunately, Ryder won’t be able to count on getting the better of Bivol on the inside as he did with Callum because he’s capable of fighting in close.
Bivol wants bigger fights
If this fight gets made, it would be another in-house match for Bivol against one of the Matchroom fighters.
You’d like to see Bivol fighting better opposition than Ryder, but if this is all that his promoters can find for him, you can’t blame them. The fight keeps both fighters busy.
Bivol’s last title defense came against fellow Matchroom fighter Craig Richards, and he looked a little rusty in winning a narrow 12 round decision over the Brit.
Eddie Hearn was recently trying to negotiate a fight for Bivol against Canelo Alvarez, but nothing came of it, unfortunately. Canelo chose to face Caleb Plant instead, and he may have never been serious, to begin with, about fighting Bivol.
Thus far, Bivol hasn’t gotten the most mileage out of being a world champion in the four years since he captured his WBA 175-lb title in 2017.
He wanted to get a big money fight against Canelo and Artur Beterbeiv, but those matches have failed to happen.
Ryder is ranked at 168, and he’s coming off a victory over Mike Guy last December in a 10 round unanimous decision. Before that, Ryder lost a controversial 12 round decision to former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith in November 2019.
Callum Smith would be an excellent opponent
Speaking of Callum, he would be an ideal opponent for Bivol to defend against, but he still needs to get his feet wet at 175.
Smith is facing former world title challenger Lenin Castillo on September 25th on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London.
If Smith defeats Castillo, he would be a likely future challenger for Bivol to defend against.
Hearn is positioning Joshua Buatsi so that he can challenge Bivol for his WBA title soon. Buatsi looked a little shaky in his last fight against Ricards Bolotniks, and he may need to get another fight under his belt before challenging Bivol.
Fans want to see Bivol fighting these fighters now:
- Artur Beterbiev
- Joe Smith Jr.
- Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez
- Canelo Alvarez
It’s questionable whether Buatsi is ready for Bivol yet, but you never know. Maybe he is. Hearn could be thinking that the same ring-rusty Bivol that we saw against Craig Richards in his last fight will be the one Buatsi faces soon. I doubt that’s the case.
If Bivol can get back to the level he was fighting at several years ago, Buatsi will be in for a long night should he mix it up with him in 2022.
“Rumor: 🇷🇺 Dmitry Bivol and 🇬🇧 John Ryder have agreed to a 175-pound WBA (Super) Light Heavyweight Title Fight on DAZN Boxing as the Co-feature to Dillian Whyte – October 30 at the O2, in London. #boxing #BivolRyder,” said @Everythingboxi2.