Promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s in discussions to have WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol & former two-heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua fighting in separate bouts on the same card on December 23rd in Saudi Arabia.
Matchroom Boxing guru Hearn was hush-mouth about who Bivol will be fighting on the December 23rd card, but he mentioned the possibility of fighting one of these two recently:
- Ronald Gavril – A 37-year-old former super middleweight world title challenger. Career has slowed to a crawl after consecutive losses to David Benavidez in 2017/2018.
- Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic – Fringe contender with notable losses to Marcus Browne and Artur Beterbiev. Hot Rod has currently been inactive for a year and a half since his last win over little-known Ernest Amuzu.
Those are poor options for Bivol, but he’s been out of the ring for over a year due to a hand injury, so you can’t expect him to be matched against an A-level contender.
One big problem Bivol has is the 175-lb division is incredibly weak and virtually zero name guys or fighters with talent, with with exception of IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev.
David Benavidez could soon be forced to move up to 175 due to his monstrous size, but not yet.
Bivol needs a top-name opponent
If Hearn doesn’t match Bivol against ‘Hot Rod’ or Gavril, it’s predictable that he’ll put him in with a British fighter, as that’s what tends to do with many of his fighters. He seems to focus more on the UK audience and doesn’t seem to grasp that U.S. fans are oblivious to who these guys are.
Fans will be excited to see the return of Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), as he had a great year in 2022, defeating Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez.
It would be a mistake for Hearn to match Bivol against a bottom-of-the-barrel-level opponent, as he’s already lost much of the traction that he had from his two wins last year due to his long layoff.
The Saudis need to put Hearn’s feet to the fire and insist on Bivol fighting a live body for his December 23rd fight from this list:
Anthony Yarde
David Morrell Jr.
Jaime Munguia
Oleksandr Gvozdyk
Vladimir Shishkin
Diego Pacheco
Deontay Wilder possible for December 23rd card
Hearn said he’s heard that former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is a possibility for the same December 23rd card, but he doesn’t know whether that’ll happen.
The 38-year-old Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) has become ‘The forgotten man’ since his loss to Tyson Fury in their trilogy fight in December 2021, thanks to his decision to fight just once in the last two years.
Like many millionaire former world champions, Wilder has been sitting around, enjoying his massive wealth, and not showing any urgency to return to the back-breaking work in resuming his career.
In Wilder’s only fight in the last two years, he knocked out his old sparring partner Robert Helenius in the first round in a showcase match last year.
The Saudis would do well to insist that Deontay fight a solid heavyweight, not another fodder-level guy, if he will participate in their event. It defeats the purpose of having Wilder on their card if he’s going to be fighting a stewbum.
British fans are excited about the 34-year-old Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) possibly fighting in December, but they’ll likely be less pleased when they discover his opponent.
Another confidence-builder for AJ
Hearn has already floated Agit Kabayel’s name as a possible foe for Joshua, and that’s a guy who is more second-tier-level, which indicates that he’s not willing to risk having AJ get beat again by putting him in with a quality heavyweight.
With the Saudis putting on the card, it’ll be interesting to see if they insist on Bivol & Joshua fighting elite-level opposition with a chance of being competitive.
That’s what boxing fans would hope for. Joshua has been fighting exclusively lesser guys since losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk, and some people believe Hearn wants to protect him like a mother hen until he can put AJ in for a cash-out massive moolah payday fight with Tyson Fury.
Given how mentally fragile Joshua has looked inside the ring in the last four years, it’s doubtful that Hearn will stick him in with a live body with a chance of ruining the possibility of the money fight with Fury from materializing.
Say what you want about Hearn; he’s a crafty promoter and very careful about matching his top breadwinners. He talks a good game about how he wants to put the best fights on, but when it comes to AJ, he’s mostly been matched against weaker opposition in recent years.
AJ’s first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr. was supposed to have been a gimme and turned out to be a cherry pick gone wrong.
“There has been discussion with Saudi Arabia about a number of our fighters fighting on December 23rd. One of those is Anthony Joshua, and there’s interest from our side,” said Eddie Hearn to the Boxing Social YouTube Channel.
“He [Joshua] wants to fight on December 23rd, and he always has done. We’ll see what happens over the next 24 to 48 hours, and that’s really the speed that it needs to gather at, and we’ll go from there,” said Hearn.
Joshua has already had two gimme opponents since his loss to Usyk, so he should be ready to get out there with real competition now.
Again, it will be up to the Saudis to insist Joshua fight a quality guy, because if they leave it up to Hearn, he’ll stick him with a sure-thing opponent, like Kabayel or Otto Wallin.
Hearn obviously knows what Joshua has left at this point in his ten-year career, and he’s not going to ruin his revenue stream by throwing AJ in with anyone who can beat him.
It won’t be surprising if Hearn balks at the idea of letting Joshua fight on December 23rd if the Saudis demand that he fight a live body like Arslanbek Makhmudov. There’s no way on earth that Hearn would let Joshua anywhere near Makhmudov (18-0, 17 KOs) because he would be the ruin of AJ.
“Yes, there are talks of fighting on that night. Obviously, I don’t represent him. I’ve heard as you’ve heard,” said Hearn on whether Deontay Wilder will fight on the same card as Joshua on December 23rd in Saudi Arabia.
“As I understand, there are a number of discussions going around on a number of fights for that card. We are in discussion about two of our fighters to go on that card, as are other promoters to go on that card as are other fighters to go on that cards,” said Hearn.
As you can see, Hearn isn’t willing to say anything about who Bivol & Joshua will be fighting on the December 23rd fight, which could indicate that he wants to delay the resulting backlash for as long as possible.
“It’s going to take a lot to come together. Yeah, from our point of view, AJ would love to fight on December 23rd,” said Hearn. “If the fights right, if the deal is right, no problem at all. It sounds like it could be an unbelievable night.
“Yes,” said Hearn when asked if WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is his other fighter that is being discussed for the December 23rd car. “There are a couple of people in the mix. I don’t want to say too much because we have to go through that process at speed and secure the opposition for both guys [Joshua & Bivol] if he goes down that route.”
For American fans, Bivol is the crown jewel of the Saudi card on December 23rd, and having Joshua in the event is more of a lesser thing.
Still, it’ll depend on who Bivol is matched against because it won’t work if he’s fed a tomato can because he needs to keep the momentum going with his career rather than going backward.
If Hearn needs to comb the 168-lb division for an opponent for Bivol to fight, so be it. He can’t depend on looking over the 175-lb weight class because it’s totally void of life.
“Fingers crossed that it comes together. It sounds like it could be an incredible night, and we’ll see how it progresses,” said Hearn.
