Dmitry Bivol must take on another challenge before a money-spinning rematch with Canelo Alvarez
Dmitry Bivol (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) © Getty Images
Undefeated Russian world champion Dmitry Bivol’s next move remains shrouded in mystery but if Eddie Hearn, promoter for the pound-for-pound great Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez whom Bivol dethroned earlier this month, gets his wish the two rivals will rematch next year – but only after taking care of some more pressing business in the interim.
It was announced in the days after Canelo’s decision defeat to Bivol that instead of chasing an immediate rematch with the WBA (Super) light-heavyweight champion, he will fight fellow elite star Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin in a trilogy fight which comes after their two prior razor-close matches.
Canelo, though, has outlined that he will chase a revenge match with Bivol – and according to Hearn, that will have to wait until 2023 and after the Russian fights his next mandatory challenger.
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“We sat down with Dmitry Bivol and his team and said, ‘Look, you’re going to defend your world championship around the same time, in September, and then you’re gonna rematch Canelo Alvarez in May,’” Hearn said on the DAZN Boxing Show, as noted by BoxingScene.
“We’re keeping, as a team, one eye on [Artur] Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. because there is a chance that Dmitry Bivol will fight the winner of that for the undisputed. We’ll continue to monitor that situation as well. But obviously, if that’s the case then, if he [Bivol] got beat, is the Canelo fight still as big?,” added Hearn, this time to iFL TV.
“The Canelo Alvarez fight for Dmitry Bivol in terms of the rematch is by far financially the biggest fight out there for him, but he does also want to try to unify or become undisputed at 175.”
Should Bivol take on Beterbiev, himself an undefeated Russian-Canadian fighter, it would represent an interesting challenge – but should Smith Jr. win, it would perhaps be a little less appealing given that Bivol already holds a victory over him from 2019.
But whoever Bivol steps into the ring with next, his team say that preparations are already well underway.
“Dmitry has begun his preparations for the next fight already. But it is impossible to say, who will be the next person to fight with – we have just begun to think about it,” Bivol’s promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy said to Sky Sports.
“I believe in Dmitry. Today he is definitely one of the best fighters in the world because of the combination of his physical conditions, his abilities to concentrate on the result and his technique.”
But as per the wishes of Hearn and indeed Bivol – it seems that all roads eventually lead to the Canelo rematch, so long as their respective upcoming fights don’t present any unforeseen obstacles.
