Comments Thread For: Bob Arum Says He Will Not Pursue Beterbiev-Bivol Unification Out of Respect for Conflict In Ukraine

[elfag]

Beterbiev lives in Canada and has canadian citizenship.


Arum is a liar and a fraud

[Monty Fisto]

That's one way to think about it. It's still dangerous for him. I know someone who went missing after saying something similar on social media. Probably dead, because they weren't famous enough to be protected from the allegations of treasonous talk. Easy to talk about connotation when you have the benefit of freedom of speech to protect you. Less easy when you or your family could vanish in the night.

I get what you're saying -- speaking out against the ***** regime is dangerous for Russian citizens and I applaud those that do. My point is that someone saying they want an end to the war is not speaking out against *****'s regime or the invasion. It is simply wishing for a resolution. Note that Bivol did not say what kind of a resolution it was that he was wishing for.

[JoeH27]

More Arum ****

[crimsonfalcon07]

I get what you're saying -- speaking out against the ***** regime is dangerous for Russian citizens and I applaud those that do. My point is that someone saying they want an end to the war is not speaking out against *****'s regime or the invasion. It is simply wishing for a resolution. Note that Bivol did not say what kind of a resolution it was that he was wishing for.

He said he's got lots of friends in Ukraine and wants the war to stop. That's being taken by *****'s regime as criticizing the war, and plenty of people have disappeared after voicing the same sentiments. It's easy for you to say "that doesn't count" because it's not you or your family who could disappear. I see a lot of people who aren't putting anything on the line critiquing semantics and whether or not it 'counts', and view it very similarly to people who have never stepped in the ring criticizing decisions that fighters make in the ring when they're injured. Easy to say from your couch.

[_original_]

Arum needs to retire already, wtf is his senile ass still doing in charge of Top Rank?

[ShoulderRoll]

Where’s MulaKO? Is he finally going to acknowledge that Bob Arum is keeping this fight from happening?

[landotter]

This makes me sad. Both fighters lose out on legacy, win or lose, and fans lose out on a great, stylistically fun fight from 2 great boxers. I hope Beterbiev kicks him to the curb, tosses the WBC belt to the wind, and makes the fight with Bivol anyways. Being undisputed is fine, but that is becoming a common occurrence. 147 is about to be unified, 168 is, 200 was unified recently, 140 was, 154 is, 135 is, and 118 was. It is not that huge accomplishment. But fighting all your peers will define who you are as a fighter. They both need this fight.

[bullydean]

If that's the case do you keep the same energy with the US. Should all US athletes be stripped of the belts they won whilst their country proceeded with an illegal invasion of Iraq? To this day they give billions to Israel who freely break international laws over and over without any consequence

Politics should be kept out of sport otherwise you're opening a big can of worms filled with bias from certain sides. The WBCs decision is ****** and biased. So is anyone calling for Russian athletes banned in any sports like i mentioned no one has kept that same energy for the US. In this case it's even more ****** since Beterbiev and Bivol are both Russia, both have represented Russia and it's flag. If anything you could say Beterbiev is more Russian than Bivol.

There was constant public protest and condemnation of the Iraqi invasion as well as constant media coverage. Not to mention the Iraqi invasion was years ago.

Israel while murdering innocent ************ is still in a hostile environment. Their actions against the innocents is terrible but at they same time they are still fighting against actual enemies that threaten them. Israel's disgusting discriminatory killing is one of the dark and inexcusable sides of their legitimate fight for freedom.

Beterbiev apparently has a Canadian home and citizenship.

[bullydean]

Politics should stay out of everything. It literally ruined every sport for me aside from UFC and Boxing. I refuse to watch NFL/MLB or any of the major sports because of it.

How does it ruin the sport?

[Ssssh11]

Eveyone saying that the fans loose out this is ridiculous because you Yanks rather watch G Davies fight and drain the living day lights out of his opponent and pay for that €50-100 than to pay and watch Bivol Vs Beterbiev..so there is no money in this fight so promoters are thinking one of them will loose and loose there appeal(basically no more big money fights) so they rather make 2-3 mil per fight put it on terrestrial network and have a steady income then promoting this fight where no person in the US gives a hoot .it's the truth y'all.. I would pay for it but Americans and Brits get behind there fighters but they don't care for Russians fighters and they difnataley won't pay to watch them. And the Mexicans fans they will watch Canelo ppv to fight a bum and won't spend a penny on this fight.. I really hope the Saudi's bid for it it's better than any HW bar Usyk Vs Fury IMO