Dmitry Bivol beat Artur Beterbiev in their undisputed light-heavyweight rematch this month to win all four belts in the division.
The pair of Russians first met back in October of 2024, with Beterbiev ending a 20-fight stoppage streak to beat Bivol on points via majority decision. As the fight was extremely close, with many feeling Bivol should have had his hand raised, as well as the epitome of elite boxing, a rematch was booked quickly.
Bivol made the correct adjustments to take home the belts this time around, answering back any Beterbiev shots with his own flurry, moving when he had to and exchanging valiantly. Despite strong success for the knockout artist Artur in the middle rounds, Bivol put a stamp on the contest as the final bell neared.
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With the same scorecards but reversed and another night of high-level action, both men said they were interested in a trilogy, as did Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh.
However, the WBC looks set on enforcing its mandatory challenger David Benavidez, providing an update in unequivocal terms:
“Dimitry Bivol must fight David Benavidez next.”
Benavidez fought and won the interim WBC belt in his debut in the division, beating former champion and Beterbiev foe Oleksandr Gvozdyk unanimously. He then entered into a dangerous contest with hard-hitting Cuban David Morrell Jr, again winning by decision to take add the WBA Regular belt to his case.
The 28-year-old has 24 knockouts from 30 wins and has long said he feels he beats the four-belt champion, confident due to past sparring sessions. Whether or not the WBC would consider a delay to the mandatory to allow for a third undisputed contest against Beterbiev remains to be seen.
