For many, Saturday’s undisputed fight for the airy heavyweight championship is the center of the boxing calendar.
Whether the heavyweight carnage of the last 12 months has tickled your taste buds or not, and with the promise of a second Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury in December, many are still rooting for the fight between the champion WBC, WBO and IBF Artur Beterbiev and WBA king Dmitry Bivol as a must-see fight in 2024.
He has almost everything, including – most importantly – the fragile balance of who can win and how, while weighing in on who can have his hand up as the best 175-pounder of this generation.
This is the fight boxing needs. This they represent the best against the best in their weight class, and by a significant margin, and this is something that is too occasional today, despite the increased number of unification fights and cries that the best in each weight class fight each other more regularly than in years previous ones.
There were indeed some good action fights in 2024, but the theory that tons of modern money unlocked the fights we all wanted is wrong because we don’t think we’re any closer to Shakur Stevenson fighting “Tank” Davis and landing David Benavidez “Canelo” Alvarez or Terence Crawford fighting “Boots” Ennis.
These types of statements are always divisive; some fall into the same level of complaining as me, and others are grateful for what we had, not what we don’t have.
But here, in the case of Beterbiev-Bivol, (for a change) we almost all unanimously agree. It’s a close fight that’s one of the best, if not the best, to be had in the sport – and has been for some time.
“People want things to be uncomplicated,” Bivol told me a few weeks ago.
“People want to understand who the best airy heavyweight fighter is. And one of the guys has one belt; one of the guys has three belts. They have to see this. We want to see this fight to understand who is the best.”
Almost everything about competitions, when you pair up competitors and look at their records, style and attributes, makes them attractive.
Both were top amateurs and parlayed their pedigree into worldwide accolades as professionals and record-breaking players. Beterbiev caused more excitement and carnage, and his 20-0 (20 KO) record is more impressive than Bivol’s 23-0 (12 KO).
As Beterbiev’s statistics show, he is an absolute brute. Those who are hit by him will stay hit. His most significant moment of destruction ranks alongside the great and good in history at 175 years ancient, while Bivol performs operations using a different methodology, but no less precise.
It’s too basic to condemn Beterbiev for blunt force trauma. This harms his distance, timing, dominance and patience. He didn’t defeat the people he had defeated so far by simply marching forward and not stopping until they gave way.
Working at the level he works at and the way he does it means he must act in a harmful way. That means he was dropped and caught. There is no shame in it. Jeff Page knocked him down with a right hand that got him back up. Callum Johnson hit him with a brief left hook that made him feel dizzy. Others have had success as well, but inevitability creeps in and the walls soon begin to close in.
Will 33-year-old Bivol keep Beterbiev away from him and will the WBA champion stay out of the danger zone for 12 rounds? These are some of the many questions that will be answered in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.
Historically, this fight really matters. This isn’t hyperbole or nonsense. This is not a position that includes a promise of a reward from the Saudi state fund. This competition will produce the true offspring of Tommy Loughran, Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Bob Foster, Michael Spinks and Roy Jones.
From a commercial perspective, how huge a fight between two Russians in Saudi Arabia is, regardless of the caliber of the boxers, the intricacies and proposed violence of the fight itself, is a completely different matter.
Many felt that Crawford’s Las Vegas showcase with Errol Spence at T-Mobile in Las Vegas in 2023 had not expanded beyond the boxing bubble, and this one certainly doesn’t get any bigger. This is a must-see fight for hardcore fans and a top-notch commercial fight. Time will tell if it is by any means a commercial juggernaut.
Some felt Spence entered the Crawford fight as damaged goods – maybe even Spence would agree – and while some say Beterbiev has shown no signs of slowing down in the ring, and looked as destructive as ever in his previous fight, an emphatic victory over Callum Smith in Montreal, there are still questions about whether his knee had time to heal properly ( that fight was postponed to June 1 due to a torn meniscus), whether inactivity would ultimately play a role in his downfall, or whether the almost 40-year-old Father Time knocked on the door where Beterbiev stands with his hand outstretched, ready to open.
As with Spence, this will likely only matter if Bivol – already the vanquisher of the aforementioned Canelo – wins decisively and decisively.
According to airy heavyweight contender Jesse Hart, a clear winner would be a surprise. Instead, what is expected and desired is a fight that will demand a lot from both.
“I think it will be a war in itself,” he told me earlier this year. “And I believe that in this fight you will get what’s left of these two fighters, provided that they are not in top shape after this fight.
I think it will take a lot from both of them after this fight. Because they both fight so tough and they both come from Russia, they both have that pedigree in them. So it’s not just about the world title, but who is the best in our country? This is Russia versus Russia; it’s also personal. They want to be respected as the best. In Russia people say Bivol is the best; people say Beterbiev is the best. Now they meet and find out who is really the best here [at 175 lbs]and it’s because of these two guys. So I believe it will require a lot from both of them.
Will any of the players be the same later?
“No, absolutely not. That’s why I say David Benavidez has moved up [in weight] in due course. He knows what he’s doing – it’s not without reason that he decided to fight in the airy heavyweight division [Oleksandr] Gwozdyk; what’s left of the two of them are beating each other up because that’s what it’s going to be like.
I think this fight will demand a lot from both fighters, regardless of who wins. I believe the fans will get their money’s worth, but I think it will take a lot of effort from both guys because they are both resilient.
When entering a fight, while it’s worth considering every possible alternative, it’s also worth appreciating what we finally have. Beterbiev-Bivol is a fight we have been waiting for for a long time. Now it’s their job to show us why and satisfy our cravings as fight fans who are too often denied that magical feeling.
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