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SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The news first came out on the X network page of the excellent boxing journalist Dan Rafael: the unified champion of all major light heavyweight belts, Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) , would grant his revenge to the Russian Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) on February 22 in Saudi Arabia as part of the “Riyad Seasons” organized by Turki Alalshikh.
We remember that the adopted Quebecer stole the WBA belt from the Matchroom protégé by adding it to his well-stocked jewelry with that of the WBC, the IBF and the WBO, while grabbing the vacant one from “ Ring Magazine” by majority decision of the judges, in Riyadh on October 12.
A well-deserved decision for Beterbiev, but which was criticized by Eddie Hearn, his entourage and even by his Arabian excellence. We remember that before the fight, Beterbiev, for the first time in his career, was in the role of the underdog.
Turki Alalshikh immediately promised a rematch to Bivol. All parties agreed on the desirability of a Beterbiev/Bivol II, but according to Bob Arum, the promoter of Top Rank, it was not realistic to envisage this scenario before the fall of 2025. His opinion was shared by the majority of experts and journalists.
The reasons given took into account the time usually required for a champion to fully recover between two fights, the dates of Ramadan, a period of fasting and sacred meditation for Artur which in 2025 begins on February 28 and ends on March 29. Furthermore, the lack of success of the “Riyadh Seasons” outside Saudi Arabia suggested that General Entertainment’s boxing galas would henceforth remain within the framework of these “Riyadh Seasons” festivities which take place from October 11 until February 28, 2025.
Moreover, the IBF, at the end of the titanic fight last October, had demanded the start of negotiations between Beterbiev’s clan and that of his mandatory challenger Michael Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs). The latter has only fought one fight since his victory against Jean Pascal in March 2023 which propelled him to this position.
Bob Arum even had to admit to having a meeting with the most popular boxer in the world, the Mexican Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs), unified super middleweight champion, to try to convince him to a third foray into light heavyweight to face Artur. We remember that Canelo became WBO champion by being knocked out. in the 11th round to Sergei Kovalev in 2019, but failed in his quest to seek the WBA title against Bivol in 2022, losing by decision.
What must be deduced is that Artur and his team have carefully analyzed the situation, the state of the champion who emerged from the October 12 fight without injuries or marks on his face, and concluded that the date presented by Alalshikh , like his financial proposals, were suitable.
The four-month spacing between the two clashes will be the shortest time between two fights for Beterbiev in almost 10 years, since June 2015, when shoulder surgery had kept him sidelined until in June 2016. Since this period, he has fought 12 fights with an average of just over eight months between each fight, double the current gap.
The conditions being met, it is certainly the best thing to do for Beterbiev, who will be 40 years old on January 21. On the other hand, Bivol will still be fresh in his memory of the pain felt in front of his opponent’s ballistic charges and it is in my opinion impossible that his level of confidence is as high as during the first confrontation.
Finally, this is excellent news for all boxing fans who will have the opportunity to watch a confrontation between not only the two best light heavyweights of their generation, but also between two boxers who belong to the top-10 list. , pound for pound.
The entire program which will be presented at the same time as Beterbiev/Bivol II seems extremely promising, perhaps the most exciting of these Middle East events which began barely a year ago, on October 28, 2023, with the presentation of the duel between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. I’ll talk about it again in a future column.
The clash of the Davids
Obviously, things are simpler when the two stars of an event belong to the same team. Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) announced that on February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, 21 days before Beterbiev/Bivol II, we will know the universal light heavyweight contender while the excellent undefeated David Benavidez (29- 0, 24 KOs) and David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) will try to make a master.
Both completely dominated their opponents at super middleweight, but tired of waiting for a call from division champion Canelo Alvarez, they both made the jump to light heavyweight in their last fight with success.
They are positioned at the top of the ladder of WBC and WBA contenders and, barring a trilogy for division supremacy, the winner will be the next legitimate challenger to Artur Beterbiev if he retains acquired on February 22.
A book about the career of Russ Anber
I have a meeting next week with author Paul Harrietha who is writing a biography of my friend Russ Anber.
Russ, a boxing dilettante, had an atypical and exceptional career starting in the 1970s when he was the assistant to trainer and “cutman” Bernie Ewenson of the 20th century gymnasium, before becoming himself “ cutman” for the great international boxing champions.
He is also the founder of the best boxing equipment specially adapted to the specific needs of modern boxers and trainers, the Rival brand, of which he is also the designer.
Its products are distributed throughout the world through its stores in Montreal, Las Vegas, London and Paris.
In his career, he was an excellent boxing trainer, founder of the Ring 83 gymnasium where Otis Grant, Howard Grant and David Lemieux were trained. He was also briefly president of the Quebec Olympic Boxing Federation.
Through it all, he also contributed to the popular education of boxing through his qualities as a communicator as an analyst at numerous Olympic Games for CBC, as host of his show “In This Corner” on TSN, and during his participation on numerous shows on RDS and now on TVA Sports.
He was recently nominated by his peers for entry into the nomination list for potential induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. We will know the result in a few weeks, but I am confident that it will receive enough votes from representatives of the international media for it to be accepted.
Russ Anber, a career in boxing for 56 years, I can’t wait to read this!
To end the fight Tyson v. Paul
In an interview, Jake Paul felt compelled to defend himself against popular claims that his fight with Mike Tyson was scripted.
However, he admitted to having slowed down and spared Tyson when he realized, from the 3rd round, that the former great champion was, let’s say lethargic.
• To no longer invite to the same dinner, Sylvester Stallone and Jake Paul. Our legendary Rocky claims that Mike Tyson deserves an Oscar for his role in the Paul fight. He believes that Tyson went easy on Paul and suggested that he be grateful because he saved his life by holding back his punches.
A statement that did not go down well with the YouTuber who reportedly responded by calling Stallone a liar and a face of plastic surgery.
Stallone has since removed his comment.
• The pretty “Ring Girl” of this popular fight on Netflix, Sydney Thomas, who has just turned 21, has seen her social networks explode and gain more than 2 million new subscribers since that famous evening.
Behind the scenes of boxing
• The bible of boxing, the magazine “Ring”, which has just been purchased by Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia, will again be available for subscriptions from December 19. In the meantime, we will have noticed that since the sale of the prestigious magazine by Golden Boy, the web page has been inactive. New subscribers will be eligible to win a Mercedes convertible car.
• The enfant terrible of boxing Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) must return to the ring in Japan on the evening of New Year’s Eve in an exhibition boxing fight against former world kickboxing champion Rukiya “Demolition Man” Anpo, a celebrity in his country.
It’s the latter who made the great Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) look so bad a few months ago, to the point of making him lose the desire to return to 45 years.
Garcia is currently under a one-year suspension by the New York Athletic Commission after testing positive for illegal substances during his fight against Devin Haney. This situation is not in conflict with its exhibition in the land of the rising sun.
His promoter Golden Boy has yet to give his blessing. Discussions in this direction are in progress.
Happy boxing and see you next week.