An irritable-sounding IBF light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol says he’s not looking beyond his fight against challenger Lyndon Arthur this Saturday night on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The 32-year-old Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) has been given a less appealing opponent for his tune-up after thirteen months of inactivity. When asked why he’s fighting Arthur, Bivol states that many fans were interested in him facing him.
American fans aren’t included in the ones that have been asking Bivol to fight Lyndon. No one has been asking for this fight from the States.
Fans want Bivol to face Benavidez
U.S. fans wanted to see Bivol face David Benavidez and, if not him, Artur Beterbiev. Lyndon Arthur is not on the radar for American fans as someone that they wanted to watch Bivol fight.
Benavidez has frequently mentioned sparring with Bivol, and it’s believed he had his way with him. He’s even talked of wanting to move up to 175 next if he can’t get the Canelo Alvarez fight.
Some believe Benavidez views Bivol as an easy mark and wants to take his WBA belt from him. Bivol, however, is ONLY interested in fighting IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev next or Callum Smith if he gets lucky on January 13th to dethrone the longtime champion.
If Benavidez dominated Bivol like he’s believed to have done, it’s not surprising that Dmitry prefers to face Beterbiev.
Obviously, it would have been better if Bivol were facing the guy who recently knocked Lyndon out, Anthony Yarde. In 2021, Yarde KO’d Lyndon in the fourth round in their rematch.
Lyndon has been on the rebuilding trail since, beating obscure second-tier non-contenders since that loss. Picking Yarde would have been the far better option for Bivol, but he’s been having his own problems, losing to IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev by an eighth round knockout last January.
Bivol’s fight with Arthur (23-1, 16 KOs) is the fourth fight from the main event, and not receiving the kind of attention that it otherwise would if he were headlining as he’s done in the past against Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez.
Bivol respects Lyndon Arthur
“You have to respect your opponent because he’s going to beat you up. You shouldn’t let him do it. You should beat him up,” said Dmitry Bivol to talkSPORT Boxing, discussing his fighting philosophy.
“We’ve seen a lot of upsets when a fighter was dominating, and then he lost focus, and the fight is done for him,” continued Bivol.
It’s good that Bivol respects Lyndon, but the fight still shapes up to be a mismatch and not an entertaining clash. Virtually NO one is giving Lyndon any chance of winning the fight, and that’s why there’s not much interest in this fight.
Bivol would have taken a rematch with Canelo Alvarez if the Mexican superstar were interested in facing him again, but he clearly doesn’t want a second helping of whoop a** after the punishment Dmitry dished out to him last year. That was enough for one lifetime.
Dmitry sees “weakness”
“Of course, it’s so good. I’m so proud of my team, myself are on this card with these good names, huge names. I’m glad,” said Dmitry about his joy in being included on Saturday’s ‘Day of Recking’ card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I see his weaknesses. The thing is about how will I use his weaknesses,” said Bivol when asked if he sees weaknesses in his opponent Lyndon Arthur. “We will see on Saturday night. I’m expecting to win this fight. How I will do it, we will see.”
Lyndon’s defense is nowhere to be found, and it’s pretty obvious what weaknesses Bivol is seeing in him. This guy doesn’t rate being ranked in the top ten at 175, and it’s disappointing that Bivol has chosen to take this fighter on rather than the guy that had been mentioned previously, Richard Rivera.
“I would like. I want the winner of that fight,” said Bivol on whether he would like to battle the January 13th Artur Beterbiev vs. Callum Smith victor. “That’s my goal. I hope we’ll see it because Saudi Arabia is interested in this fight and interested in making this fight.”
Beterbiev is about to turn 39 years old, and it’s too bad that Bivol is fighting him now rather than five to six years ago when he was younger. It takes away a lot of the potential shine in Bivol beating him if he comes out victorious.
When a fight is marinated this long, it’s almost pointless. I know feels that becoming the undisputed light heavyweight champion will validate him, but it probably won’t mean much in the eyes of the fans.
It would mean a lot more if Bivol fought Benavidez and beat him than Beterbiev, who is too old for him to get credit. If Callum Smith defeats Beterbiev, Bivol will receive even less praise from fans if he defeats the tall 6’4″ stork-like British fighter, as he’s already been defeated by Canelo.
Bivol dreaming of undisputed clash
“I don’t know when it could happen, but in 2024, they [the Saudis] are interested in making this fight happen,” said Bivol. “Maybe on the undercard, or maybe we’ll have our fight as the main card. I don’t know yet,” said Bivol on whether he believes he could fight the Beterbiev-Smith winner on March 9th, potentially on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder.
“I was talking to Turki Alalshikh, and he was telling me, ‘I want to do this fight.’ I’m not looking that far. I’m thinking about my fight on Saturday night. It takes 99% of my mind and 1% of my next step,” said Bivol on whether he sees himself moving up to cruiserweight in the future. “About my next step, it’s a headache for my team.”
Bivol needs to get the Beterbiev or Smith fight over with, as he’s been talking about it for too long now. Once it’s done with, Bivol can move on to more appealing fights that the fans care about, like fighting Benavidez, Canelo, or Jai Opetaia. Those would be more interesting.
“I don’t like to make predictions. Let’s see what happens in the ring. I will try to show my best. I will try to show my fans that they support me, they help me, and I do a good job,” said Bivol when asked for a prediction on his fight with Lyndon Arthur.
