By Craig Page: Top Rank promoter Carl Moretti stated at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night that they plan on making the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight clash for the IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO titles this summer.
The only problem Moretti, the promoter for Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) sees preventing that fight from happening is if Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) is “promised Canelo” for September.
If that fight is there for WBA 175-lb champion Bivol, he’ll likely take it because it’s the bigger one financially with the money he can make fighting Alvarez, the biggest draw in North America.
Top Rank to try to make Beterbiev-Bivol next
“We’re going to try and make the Bivol fight as much as we can. We’ll worry about what’s after that,” said Top Rank promoter Carl Moretti at the post-fight press conference when asked if Artur Beterbiev will fight his WBC mandatory Callum Smith next.
“The only reluctance I can see is if he’s promised Canelo,” Moretti said about Bivol. “Bivol is a real fighter, and his manager [said], ‘We beat Canelo already. We want to unify the light heavyweight titles’ and the only way to do that is to fight Artur. So I think that’s what we’ve got going for us, and that’s why we’re trying to make the fight as soon as possible.
“In the summer. Beterbiev is a devout Muslim, so we’ve got Ramadan, and probably the summer.”
Last Saturday night, Beterbiev successfully defended his IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight titles, stopping his WBO mandatory Anthony Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs) in the eighth round in a war in front of a large pro-Yarde crowd at the OVO Arena in London, England.
Yarde was knocked down in the eighth round, badly hurt, and the fight was stopped shortly after. Bivol was marked up around the face and suffered a cut over his left eye in the sixth.
It was a fight in which Bivol pressed the action, landing hurtful blows, and then would back off when Yarde returned fire with his heavy shots.
Unlike his usual fights, Beterbiev didn’t want to stand in the trenches with Yarde the whole time due to the big punches he was throwing and perhaps because of possible stamina concerns.
If Beterbiev had stood in front of Yarde the entire time, he likely would have knocked him out much sooner and taken less punishment in the process.
Yarde would have tired out sooner and wouldn’t have made it to the eighth round before being taken out. Unfortunately, the 31-year-old bodybuilding physique isn’t designed for the cardio required for a fast pace boxing match.