Dmitry Bivol obviously would love to challenge Canelo Alvarez.
The unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion would prefer facing Alvarez within the 175-pound division, in which Bivol has competed throughout his five-year professional career. Bivol would move down, however, to the super middleweight division to secure that high-profile opportunity and the career-high payday that would come along with it.
Mexico’s Alvarez appears to have other plans for the foreseeable future, which could leave Bivol to battle boxing’s most dangerous light heavyweight, Artur Beterbiev. The Russian-born Beterbiev owns two light heavyweight titles, which makes him an attractive alternative for Russia’s Bivol, who holds the WBA 175-pound crown.
The 29-year-old Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs) expressed interest in boxing Beterbiev as part of an Instagram Live interview with promoter Eddie Hearn on Friday.
“It’s a great fight,” Bivol said. “And it’s a really tough fight for me and for him, I think, because we a little bit know each other. And Artur Beterbiev is the most dangerous fighter in the world, and one of the most because he has power. He’s really powerful. But he has two belts, and it’s worth [the risk].”
The 35-year-old Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) was supposed to defend his IBF and WBC titles against unbeaten Chinese southpaw Meng Fanlong (16-0, 10 KOs) on March 28 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada. Their 12-round fight, ordered because Fanlong is the mandatory challenger for Beterbiev’s IBF championship, was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beterbiev battered previously undefeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk on his way to a 10th-round, technical-knockout victory in his last fight. The hard-hitting Beterbiev knocked down Gvozdyk three times in the 10th round to defend his IBF title and take the WBC crown from Ukraine’s Gvozdyk (17-1, 14 KOs) on October 18 at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
Montreal’s Beterbiev seemingly would be Bivol’s toughest opponent.
In his most recent action, Bivol beat the Dominican Republic’s Lenin Castillo (20-3-1, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder October 12 at DePaul University’s Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Two judges scored 11 rounds for Bivol, who won all 12 rounds on the other judge’s card (120-107, 119-108, 119-108).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.