Eddie Hearn considers the WBC\u2019s decision to force Dmitry Bivol to vacate their light-heavyweight title to be \u201cstrange\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old Bivol won the undisputed title when in February, in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev, he was awarded a majority decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That he had lost to his fellow Russian via majority decision, in a similarly competitive and entertaining contest, four months previously has contributed to a decisive third fight for them being widely in demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If, as expected, it does take place, however, it will not again be for the undisputed 175lbs title. Bivol vacated the WBC title because of those plans when their preference was for him to fight David Benavidez, who has since been elevated from the status of their interim titlist to WBC champion.<\/p>\n
It was earlier in February that Benavidez earned a majority decision over David Morrell of Cuba. Yet it was only in June 2024 that he moved up to light heavyweight \u2013 he defeated Ukraine\u2019s Oleksandr Gvozdyk \u2013 after a considerably lengthier period as the mandatory challenger to the WBC super-middleweight title held by the celebrated Saul \u201cCanelo\u201d Alvarez, who was neither stripped of his status by the same organisation nor placed under any pressure to fight the opponent who represented his biggest threat at 168lbs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That inconsistency was what Matchroom\u2019s Hearn \u2013 who continues to promote Bivol and previously promoted Alvarez, including while he remained the undisputed champion at 168lbs despite moving up in weight to fight Bivol \u2013 was referring to when he told BoxingScene: \u201cIt\u2019s a bit strange. When you first win the title normally you get a little bit of grace. It wasn\u2019t like going into that fight, \u2018By the way, the winner must fight Benavidez\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe won his fight, and then they put the mandatory straight on Dmitry. \u2018We have a contract to fight Beterbiev, so we can\u2019t do that.\u2019 \u2018Oh, well we\u2019re gonna call purse bids.\u2019 Fucking hell \u2013 alright. Then it\u2019s like, \u2018He\u2019s been offered $8m \u2013 he\u2019s not taking it\u2019. You can\u2019t put that information out\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know whether the WBC were under pressure because of the situation with \u2018Canelo\u2019, where Benavidez had to wait a long time. But I would have expected the governing body to say, \u2018Fair enough \u2013 it\u2019s the biggest fight in boxing. It\u2019s the trilogy. We\u2019ll allow it. But the winner has to fight Benavidez\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if the WBC\u2019s actions were self-defeating, Hearn responded: \u201cProbably. I get it \u2013 as a governing body, you do have to give people opportunities to fight for the belt. But he\u2019s just won that fight with Morrell \u2013 it\u2019s not like he\u2019s been waiting for two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the mystery of boxing [that Alvarez wasn\u2019t treated the same as Bivol].\u201d<\/p>\n
Callum Smith, another of Matchroom\u2019s light heavyweights, is, according to Hearn, on course to be the 28-year-old Benavidez\u2019s first challenger in the coming months, in Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith, 34, convincingly defeated Joshua Buatsi on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol II. Benavidez is also the WBA\u2019s lightly regarded \u201cworld\u201d champion; Bivol \u2013 the WBA\u2019s actions are perhaps similarly self-defeating \u2013 is their \u201csuper\u201d champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just talking,\u201d said Hearn. \u201cWe\u2019re having good conversations with Luis DeCubas [who works with Benavidez]. I think it\u2019s a fight that we can make happen \u2013 it\u2019s one of the better fights in the light-heavyweight division.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBenavidez is coming off the best win of his career; so\u2019s Callum Smith. That fight against Buatsi was incredible. Let\u2019s make it happen \u2013 end of the summer, probably in Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn considers the WBC\u2019s decision to force Dmitry Bivol to vacate their light-heavyweight title to be \u201cstrange\u201d.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[22402,1935,4495,22403,19520,21853,12434,19047,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-39435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-artur-beterbiev","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxingscene","11":"tag-callum-smith","12":"tag-david-benavidez","13":"tag-dmitry-bivol","14":"tag-eddie-hearn","15":"tag-saul-canelo-alvarez","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114378288857010242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}