The Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol light heavyweight headliner battle outshines the assembled undercard fights announced yesterday for their October 12th event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A Lackluster Undercard
It’s a shame that there wasn’t a quality chief support bout added to the card that could do justice for the main event. Instead, you’ve got WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson defending against Joe Cordina.
The problem is that this fight will be purchased mainly by casual boxing fans, and they expect an excellent co-feature bout on a PPV card. Shakur needs a knockout artist as an opponent to make him worth watching because his fights are always boring.
Promoter Eddie Hearn should have left Cordina off the card and instead matched Shakur against Edwin De Los Santos in a rematch.
Many boxing fans would like to see that fight because Shakur was full of excuses last November when he turned his fight against De Los Santos into a track meet. Afterward, he blamed a hand injury for his nonstop movement, yet he didn’t offer De Los Santos a rematch to show he could beat him without running.
If the headliner between IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBA champ Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) is an exciting enough fight, it won’t matter if the undercard fails to interest the average fan.
Undercard Breakdown
– Shakur Stevenson vs Joe Cordina
– Chris Eubank Jr vs Kamil Szeremeta
– Fabio Wardley vs Frazer Clarke II
– Jai Opetaia vs Jack Massey
– Ben Whittaker vs Liam Cameron
– Skye Nicolson vs Raven Chapman
– Mohammed Alakel vs Jesus Gonzalez
Beterbiev vs. Bivol: A Fight That Could Stand Alone
“I would be happy for this to be a one-fight card. That’s how much I want to see Bivol vs. Beterbiev,” said Ade Oladipo on his YouTube channel, talking about the light heavyweight clash between unified champion Artur Beterbiev and belt-holder Dmitry Bivol on October 12th.
Ade is right. This could have been far better if the promoters had skipped the undercard and just focused on Beterbiev vs. Bivol as the only fight. Of course, no one does that, but it would have been better than having a bunch of mismatches that have no compelling value. As far as I can tell, the only fight on the undercard that is competitive on paper is the rematch between heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke.
“I think this is going to be sensational—a puncher vs. a boxer, and both Russians,” said Ade about the Beterbiev vs. Bivol clash. “They both trained on the Russian team. Beterbiev was a senior, and Bivol was a junior. Sometimes, I feel that Beterbiev looks down on Bivol, ‘You are a junior.’ I can’t wait for this.”
Bivol, 33, is the favorite to win this fight among fans and oddsmakers, but Beterbiev may pull off a surprise. The question mark about Beterbiev is whether his recently injured knee is 100%. He’s not had much time to rehab it, and he might not be at full capacity for this match.
“You’ve got a lot of personalities on this card and the co-main event between Shakur Stevenson and Joe Cordina,” said Ade. “Some have critiqued this. I’ve critiqued it a little bit. I understand why Joe is taking this fight; if it comes across your table and your Joe Cordina, I mean, the co-main for Bivol-Beterbiev.
You’re getting paid, and you’re getting the chance to fight a pound-for-pounder. If you beat him, it’s [great]. I get it. For Shakur Stevenson, it’s a weird one. You’re fighting a guy that’s moving up a weight class. Yes, I know Joe has fought at lightweight before.”
You can’t blame Cordina for taking this fight. He’s getting paid well and given an immediate title shot after losing his IBF super featherweight title to Anthony Cacace last May. You don’t see too many ex-champions being given immediate title shots that don’t involve a rematch with the fighter that beat them.
Cordina was having problems making 130, which would explain why he chose not to push for a rematch against Cacace. However, given how one-sided that fight was, it’s questionable whether he would have chosen to fight him again because the outcome would have been bad for him.
“You’re fighting a guy that’s moving up a weight class, coming off a loss,” said Ade. “That’s a strange one. Were there no other 135-pounders? If this a case of Eddie [Hearn] signing him [Stevenson] to a one or two-fight deal, and this is Eddie doing Joe a favor. I don’t know.”
There were many 135-pounders that Hearn could have used as Shakur’s opponents, but some of them would have likely beaten him. That wouldn’t have been good for Hearn because he’s interested in signing Shakur to a long-term deal next year. Moreover, he’s throwing a bone to Cordina, who needs a hand right now because he might be done as a fighter. This would be like a going away present if he retires soon.
“This is a fight that has been critiqued the most. It’s a shame for Joe because if he had beaten [Anthony] Cacace, Joe moving up, it’s a great match-up. Joe will ask some questions [of Shakur] because Joe is a good boxer as well, and we know we can crack a little bit. Ultimately, this is still boxer vs. boxer and Shakur is the better boxer,” said Ade.
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