Bivol undecided who he’ll fight next between Canelo & Beterbiev

By Boxing News - 11/06/2022 - Comments

By Jack Tiernan: Dmitry Bivol says he’s not sure at this time who he’ll fight next between his two options of Canelo Alvarez and Artur Beterbiev.

Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) took care of a small hurdle in Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez last Saturday night to clear the way to a big fight against IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) or the Mexican superstar Canelo.

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At this point, Bivol says he prefers to face Beterbiev next. Still, it doesn’t look like that fight can happen in early 2023 because Artur is expected to defend against his WBO mandatory Anthony Yarde in February.

That leaves Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) as Bivol’s most likely next opponent, but the superstar is coming off of hand surgery, and it’s still not clear whether he’ll be ready to fight in May or not.

Although promoter Eddie Hearn says he expects Canelo to be ready, but that may not be the case. If your Canelo, you don’t want to take the fight with Bivol unless you’re absolutely certain that you’re surgically repaired left hand is 100% ready to go for the rematch.

Moreover, we don’t know if Canelo really wants the second fight with Bivol. For him to have been pulling for Zurdo Ramirez to win last Saturday night suggests that he doesn’t fancy the rematch.

If Canelo truly doesn’t want to face Bivol a second time, he’ll use his surgically repaired hand as an excuse for why he won’t take the fight. Don’t be surprised if that happens.

“You get a big fight against Zurdo Ramirez. What has this year meant to you?” said Chris Mannix of DAZN to Dmitry Bivol after his big win over Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.

“I proved to myself that I can beat the best guy [Canelo Alvarez] in the world, and I was happy, and now I beat another guy [Zurdo Ramirez], who doesn’t know who lose is. It means a lot to me.

“I have a goal; I want to be the undisputed champion. It doesn’t depend on me who I fight next. I have to argue with the team about which is better for all of us,” said Bivol.

As much as Bivol would like to fight Beterbiev next, it will require a lot of waiting on his part because the unified champion will be busy with a title defense against Yarde and then Ramadan after that, according to promoter Hearn.