Beterbiev vs. Bivol Preview
The undisputed light heavyweight championship will be on the line for the first time in the four-belt era on Saturday, October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WBC, WBO, and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev will battle WBA champion Dmitry Bivol to crown the best light heavyweight in the world.
Beterbiev (20- 0, 20 KO) retained the titles in his last two fights with TKO’s over Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith. He has held at least one light heavyweight belt since 2017 and since then has successfully defended a title eight times.
The Russian fighter does not talk about his game plan before fights. "You know, in all my past fights, I have never revealed these things" he said. "Why do I need to tell you these things now?
"Everyone asks this. It is a little secret in our team.”
Beterbiev continued, "We have some different scenarios to do and to prepare for.
"We are thinking about how it is going to go in the beginning, the middle and the end of the fight.
"We always try to discuss different scenarios, prepare for different scenarios, but we never tell journalists.
"We will keep quiet too.I want to win the fight, yes, but do not tell anyone. When someone does trash talk, I just smile."
Even though he is on the verge of such a historic fight, Beterbiev prefers to only let his hands do the talking. "I have never done trash talk in my boxing career and I don't want to start now, you know," he said.
Beterbiev concluded, "It is not my style. Maybe it comes from when I was an amateur, because I remember when I was an amateur there was a period where the head coach of the national team would not let us do interviews after a fight.
"They did not want us to talk with the journalists during the tournament.
"After the tournament, yes, but not during the tournament.
"Maybe it comes from there. I don't know, I understand it is good for promo and everything."
Bivol (23-0, 12 KO) has been the WBA titleholder since 2017 since being promoted to regular champion from interim champion. He has defended the belt 12 times and most recently defeated Malik Zinad by sixth round TKO in June.
The Russian fighter talked about getting to such a pivotal moment in his career. “It’s like I did everything right in my life. Because this is my goal. This is my dream and the dream could come true. Of course it will show me that I was doing right,” Bivol said.
He continued, “The main thing is that I realise my potential. I have a plan, I want to reach this goal and all of it - that people will recognise me, people will remember me, I will get some belts, it’s just a bonus.”
Bivol knows he is in for a battle against Beterbiev. “I feel amazing before the most important fight of my life,” Bivol said. “Just look at his record to see why he's a really dangerous fighter. It's proven that he's one of the most dangerous opponents. He has the skills. He's not only just a good puncher. He's a really good and smart fighter. He has experience and a boxing IQ. He has three belts for a reason. For his age, he has really good conditioning. I just need to be myself and improve on my skills. You can't prepare to get punched, you have to prepare not to get punched.”
The 33-year-old is focused on doing what he feels he does best. “I will try to do all of my best,” said Bivol. “If I can try to finish the fight, of course I will use the opportunity. In my head, I am always thinking about how to win this fight and how to make everything perfect. I am not thinking about the knockout, to be honest.”
The biggest win of Bivol’s career came in 2022 and was a surprise to many where he dominated pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez. With a win on Saturday, he will have options and many people would like Canelo to be one of those potential fights. How does Bivol feel? “To be honest, I don't have any plans as to who I will fight next,” said Bivol. “I don't know if the rematch would be worse for Canelo. I'm not thinking about Canelo. I waited a year and a half and it was only talk and no action or negotiations. It's a closed subject. I'm busy with Beterbiev. We'll see what happens after.”
Also on the card is a battle for the IBF cruiserweight title as champion Jai Opetaia will defend his belt against former IBO cruiserweight champion Jack Massey.
Opetaia (25-0, 19 KO) won the belt in surprising fashion with a dominant victory over Maris Breidis. He has defended the belt three times and most recently defeated Breidis again by unanimous decision in May.
The Australian fighter talked about his opponent on Saturday. “He’s good, man. We’re not taking him lightly at all; he’s a good, tough opponent. At the press conference he was saying he has a big amateur pedigree, so he’s been around the sport for a long time. He’s good. He’s a tough opponent. But styles make fights,” said Opetaia.
“There’s pressure in every fight. I’ve had pressure in every single fight of my pro career; it’s been a stepping stone to get where we want to go, and we’re still very far from our final destination. We’re always under pressure.”
The champion continued, “These underdog boys remind me of myself. I was in their shoes; no one knew who I was. I went from fighting at the Music Hall in Brisbane [in Australia] to fighting for a world title. They’re dangerous, so I take every fight very serious.
“Everything we have is earned every day. It can easily be taken away from us in one bad day. We don’t fucking prepare properly for a fight, and we fall short, everything will be taken away from us. We’ve gotta win it before we go in there, so we’re doing all the hard work that needs to be done.”
The pundits have criticized Opetaia for not having been pushed to the brink yet. He responded, “I’m comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re always chasing pain in the gym.”
Opetaia commented when asked about potentially fighting someone with a name such a Beterbiev or Bivol, considering other cruiserweight champions are not eager to fight him. “You’re always looking at that carrot at the end of the tunnel, and now he’s in the way of it. So, we must remove him from there and keep heading towards that carrot. Until then, he’s stopping us from getting there,” said Opetaia.
Massey (22-2, 12 KO) has won two straight since losing via unanimous decision to former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in 2023. He won the vacant IBO belt in 2021 but would never go on to defend the title.
The British fighter talked about facing Opetaia. “Watching him, you can't take it away from him that he's a very good fighter,” Massey said. “He looks good. But if you look at who he's fought, it's only really been Breidis twice, hasn't it? Coming to the back end of his career.
“But you can't take away the fact that when you watch him fighting, you can see that he's a very, very good fighter. You can't go in there underestimating him thinking he's only fought over-the-hill fighters. You can tell he's a good fighter and he's very good at what he does.”
Massey continued to talk about the champion. “That’s why he gets a lot of critics,” he said. “Because obviously a lot of people buy into him. They like him. They like his style and how he is outside the ring. Obviously, that also brings critics on board to come to the table and say, ‘Well, who's he actually fought?’ so he's got to prove himself a little bit more.
“But people get excited, don't they? They hear the sparring stories and they watch him fight and stuff and start putting labels on him to be the next this and that. So, time will tell when Jack Massey gets in with him.”
Massey has the chance to pull off one of the biggest upsets of 2024 if he can find a way to defeat Opetaia. So far, no other fighter has been able to outbox Opetaia, so if Massey wants to win he will need to take the fight to the champion.
The rest of the undercard:
Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke
Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman — for Nicolson’s WBC featherweight title
Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
Mohammaed Alakel vs. Jesus Gonzalez
Marco Maric vs. Christian Lopez Flores
