Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he’ll be ready to make a rematch between light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and Canelo Alvarez in 2025, regardless of whether Bivol wins his next fight against unified 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12th in Riyadh.
Hearn states that if WBA champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) defeats IBF, WBC, and WBO champ Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) in their 12-round contest at the Kingdom Arena next month, he’ll have the chance to make the undisputed championship match between Dmitry and Canelo.
If Bivol loses to Beterbiev, he can drop down to 168 to face unified super middleweight champion Canelo for his three titles. Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) recently mentioned wanting to fight a rematch with Bivol, 33, if he’s victorious against Beterbiev on October 12th. However, Canelo didn’t say anything about wanting to still fight Bivol if he’s coming off a loss and is belt-less.
That’s a lot less appealing for Canelo for obvious reasons. He has nothing to gain from fighting Bivol under those conditions. From Hearn’s perspective, it’s understandable why he would want Bivol to fight Canelo next, win or lose, because he promotes the Russian fighter, and the money that a rematch would bring in would be substantial.
Bivol won’t make the same kind of cash fighting anyone else at 175, and his career might be sunk to the bottom in a rematch with Beterbiev if he’s blown out in their October 12th fight. The last thing Hearn would want is for Bivol to be knocked out a second time by Beterbiev and be stuck with a tarnished fighter.
“If Dmitry Bivol beats Artur Beterbiev, we have the opportunity to do Dmitry Bivol against Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed light heavyweight world championship, which all of a sudden brings another kind of attraction to the [Beterbiev-Bivol] fight for Canelo,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News, discussing his hopes for a rematch between Canelo and Bivol.
Canelo lost to Bivol by a 12 round unanimous decision two years ago on May 7, 2022, in Las Vegas. The scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. However, the fight was much more one-sided than the scores the three judges at the T-Mobile Arena turned in.
“If Dmitry were to lose [to Beterbiev[, he could drop down to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez, which he’s capable of doing. So, obviously, we want to see Dmitry win this fight, and if Canelo wants it, I would love to make that happen,” said Hearn.
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