Artur Beterbiev suffered an injury ahead of his highly anticipated undisputed light heavyweight bout with Dmitry Bivol scheduled for June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The news, initially made public by a post on the social media account of boxing broker Turki Alalshikh, was confirmed in a press release by promoter Top Rank shortly thereafter on Friday.
Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus in training, according to the promoter.
The planned “5v5” card pitting Matchroom fighters against Queensbury fighters, which would have played out on the Beterbiev-Bivol undercard, will proceed without the main event.
Beterbiev, owner of the WBC, WBO and IBF belts, has knocked out all 20 of his professional opponents. Given the contrast in styles (Beterbiev’s brute force against the elite boxing skills of WBA and IBO champion Bivol), the matchup had promised to be a pure boxer-versus-puncher battle – as close to a coin-flip event as any other fight in 2024.
Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and an instrumental figure in making the Beterbiev-Bivol fight, posted on X that the bout would be postponed until later in the year.
“Wishing my brother Artur a speedy recovery,” Alalshikh posted. “However, the 5v5 event is still on for June 1st.”
An X post on Top Rank’s account confirmed that plans are to reschedule Beterbiev-Bivol for later in the year, and added that more details would follow.
Beterbiev, 39, looked as sharp as ever in his January knockout of Callum Smith, but has a history of injuries.