With the attractive light-heavyweight undisputed title fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol rescheduled for October 12 in Saudi Arabia, all of the titles at 175lbs could be consolidated.
But would that unlock a place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for the winner?
On ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters”, the retired champion Chris Algieri was not so sure.
“As of right now, neither one gets in, but a win over the other one and it becomes arguable,” Algieri said.
“Probably Bivol, because Bivol’s got the win over ‘Canelo’ [Saul Alvarez]. He’s been undefeated. [If] he beats Beterbiev, depending on what he does in the rest of his career – because it’s still kind of early, even for Bivol. He’s not a young guy, but he still has a lot more to do and a lot of fights left in him.”
Algieri painted a different picture for the heavy-hitting Beterbiev, 20-0 (20 KOs), who at 39 tore his meniscus, forcing the delay of the fight from June 1.
“Beterbiev is the opposite,” Algieri added. “He’s at the end of his row. He’s going to be 40 years old – he’s actually having trouble getting to fights now, but a win over Bivol is massive and there could be an argument for that, but in terms of what he’s done up to this point, I don’t think either one is a Hall of Famer.”
The also-retired Paulie Malignaggi countered quickly, and returned fire: “I’m gonna push back on that. They’re the best light heavyweights of this era. If you can’t get into the Hall of Fame as the best of your era in a weight class, that just means the entire weight class wasn’t good? It was a pretty solid era of light heavyweights.”
Not to be outdone, Algieri doubled-down. “Yeah, but neither one beat any Hall of Famers. Bivol’s got the win over Canelo…”
Algieri then asked Malignaggi whether he felt they had a standout win, and Malignaggi replied: “Beterbiev if he doesn’t fight again, he’s one of the most destructive light heavyweights in history. You can get me light heavyweights that are in the Hall of Fame and I think Beterbiev knocks them out. Most of the light heavyweights in the Hall of Fame, I think Beterbiev knocks them out.”
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