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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has confirmed Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev will fight later this year for the undisputed light heavyweight boxing throne.
Earlier this week, the combat sports community was devastated after finding out Tyson Fury had suffered a severe cut in training, postponing his undisputed heavyweight title boxing match against Oleksandr Usyk scheduled for Feb. 17.
As a result, ‘The Gypsy King’ and Alalshikh joined Ariel Helwani for a special edition of The MMA Hour. After clearing the air about Fury’s injury, the Saudi Arabian advisor announced that the highly-anticipated five vs. five event featuring Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom boxing taking on Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions will take place on June 1.
While discussing the June 1 event, Alalshikh confirmed the main event will feature Bivol and Beterbiev battling it out for the undisputed light heavyweight world title. His Excellency had this to say about the upcoming spectacle:
“1st of June. [Beterbiev vs. Bivol] is the main event and [on the same night] five fights between Eddie [Hearn] camp and Frank [Warren] camp. They will each choose and each one doesn’t know the fighters until we decided. It will be something new.”
Beterbiev and Bivol will enter their meeting with legacy on the line. Both fighters have pursued the undisputed title fight against each other. Unfortunately, the complexity of boxing negotiations led to the matchup falling through several times before Alalshikh and the Saudi Arabian officials stepped in.
What is the professional boxing record for Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev?
Artur Beterbiev made his professional boxing debut in June 2013. Since then, the Russian-Canadian light heavyweight has won twenty consecutive fights by KO/TKO. The three-division world champion last fought on Jan. 13, defeating Callum Smith by seventh-round TKO.
As for Dmitry Bivol, he first fought in the professional ranks in Nov. 2014. Bivol has racked up eleven KO/TKOs to establish a 22-0 record, but his resume is arguably better than Beterbiev’s, as he holds a win against Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.
Bivol is coming off a unanimous decision win against Lyndon Arthur in Dec. 2023, where he defended his WBA throne.
