By: Sean Crose
This weekend’s undisputed light heavyweight title bout between unbeatens Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol is rightfully drawing a lot of attention. While it’s true the winner will be declared the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world, he will also enter the pantheon of all time light heavyweight greats – and that’s saying something. Gene Tunney, Archie Moore, Billy Conn, Michael Spinks, Ezzard Charles and seemingly countless other icons have found glory in the division. In fact, the light heavyweight division may well be the most underrated division in the entirely of boxing history. Situated somewhere between heavyweight and middleweight, it never seems to garner the respect and attention it deserves.
It’s difficult to argue whether or not the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol will help elevate the light heavyweight divisions in the eyes of the public, but it certainly won’t hurt. The 23 year old Bivol is a walking, talking skill set. He’s already earned a spot in boxing history by defeating the great Canelo Alvarez back in 2022. Now he’s eager for an even bigger prize – divisional dominance. As for Beterbiev – the man has been nothing but the picture of destruction since he began his career in 2013. On top of that, none of the guy’s 20 opponents were able to last the distance with him.
While this will be a battle for all the figurative marbles, there’s no denying this matchup is exciting on paper, as well. Each man fights in his own unique fashion. Bivol is a chess master with more strength in him than the likes of Canelo were able to handle. Beterbiev, on the other hand, lets his fists do the talking. There’s more to the man than heavy hands, however. He works his way towards the knockout moments. This isn’t some wild man we’re talking about here, but a consulate professional.
Whether it ends up being an exciting battle – and it’s might be hard to imagine it won’t be – the winner will have earned the right to be mentioned alongside all those legends who previously operated at light heavyweight. And there is no denying that it’s quite the big deal. It took a long time for this fight to be made, so it’s good to know Beterbiev and Bivol will finally be meeting in the ring on Saturday. Here’s hoping it will have been worth the wait. Historic battles are better when they’re entertaining.