Dmitry Bivol: Badou Jack Gave Me His Belt, I Want The Rest!
Oct 13, 2017 • 8:10 PM ET
By Luke Furman
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is targeting all of the other beltholders in his division, because he wants to become the absolute champion at 175-pounds.
On Wednesday evening, WBA President Gilberto Jesús Mendoza said that Bivol - who held the interim version of the championship - would be elevated to become the full world champion.
A series of events led up to this moment - where Bivol is now only WBA champion at the weight. First, WBA 'super' light heavyweight champion Andre Ward made the unexpected decision to retire, which in turn vacated his version of the title.
Then the World Boxing Association ordered the WBA "regular" champion Badou Jack to face Bivol, who held the interim-belt, in a mandatory defense to establish a single WBA champion in the division.
Jack said he other plans in the works and vacated the belt.
With no willing candidates to fight Bivol, he became the champion and now he's ready to defend his title and capture the other remaining titles.
"We went after the title. Of course the ideal option is when you win it in a fight, when you take it away from someone. I was not lucky enough to get this opportunity. Badou Jack refused to fight me and just left the title. But I'm glad that the WBA declared me as the champion.Now I need to prove that I deserve it and defend the belt," Bivol told Vasily Konov.
"I'm the type of person that I need to set maximum goals in any business. In professional boxing, the maximum task is securing the status of being the absolute champion of the world. You can not achieve good results if you do not set higher goals. Yes, this goal is not always achieved, but we must always strive for it, so I strive to become the absolute champion."
Bivol will make the first defense of the title against Australian Trent Broadhurst, scheduled for November 4 in Monte Carlo. The Russian boxer has an undefeated record of 11 wins, with 9 of them by knockout."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
