One other extremely anticipated undisputed championship may very well be headed for the Center East.
Instantly after Artur Beterbiev, the unified WBO, WBC, and IBF gentle heavyweight champion, demolished challenger Callum Smith in seven rounds on Saturday night time at Centre Videotron in Quebec Metropolis, Beterbiev’s promoter, Bob Arum, indicated {that a} potential full unification bout between his cost and Dmitry Bivol, the WBA titlist, may materialize later this yr in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Arum stated there was sturdy curiosity in that matchup from Turki Alalsihkh, the top of Saudi Arabia’s Basic Authority for Leisure, a physique that oversees a few of the oil-producing nation’s most vital cultural occasions, together with Riyadh Season.
Alalsihkh has been accountable for a few of the most high-profile boxing playing cards in current months, together with the heavyweight “crossover” occasion between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou final October and the stacked heavyweight-centric card in December that featured Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in separate fights. However probably the most noteworthy boxing match that has been greenlit by Alalshikh is the upcoming heavyweight undisputed championship between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on Feb. 17 in Riyadh.
“No, it’s not performed but however completely, we wish to do it,” Arum informed ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna. “I’ll be speaking to my good friend, his excellency, Turki Alalshikh. I do know he needs to do it, however Ramadan is coming. So Ramadan ends someday in the course of April so three months after the top of Ramadan we’ll be able to struggle Bivol in all probability in Riyadh.”
Beterbiev, a religious Muslim, doesn’t struggle in the course of the Ramadan season that begins in early March and ends in early April because it requires him to quick.
Alalshikh himself revealed a submit on X (previously Twitter) that appeared to point his need to see the 2 Russian gentle heavyweights lastly swap punches within the ring: it featured an image of Beterbiev and Bivol in a casual face-off that occurred within the week main as much as the Fury vs. Ngannou struggle final October in Riyadh.
Alalshikh additionally revealed one other submit indicating his fondness for Beterbiev’s damaging win over England’s Smith, writing “Spectacular efficiency…congratulations brother, due to God I can sleep now comfortable …” He adopted that up with a standalone photograph of Beterbiev posing along with his three belts.
Boxing followers have been clamoring for a struggle between Bivol and Beterbiev however enterprise politics have plagued that matchup for years.
Liverpool’s Smith had by no means been down on the canvas as an beginner or skilled till he fought Beterbiev, who dropped him twice within the pivotal seventh spherical, prompting Smith’s coach, Buddy McGirt, to throw within the towel.
With the win, Montreal’s Beterbiev, who turns 39 later this month, retains his undefeated file (20-0, 20) and excellent knockout ratio intact.
Sean Nam is the creator of Homicide on Federal Road: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Final Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.
