The WBO committee has decided to allow light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol to fight his trilogy match with Artur Beterbiev rather than defend against mandatory challenger Callum Smith next. Interim WBO champion Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) can take a voluntary fight next. The WBO notes fans’ interest in seeing the trilogy fight between Bivol (24-1, 22 KOs) and Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs). Bivol won the rematch by a 12-round majority decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114.
Where’s New Blood?
The U.S boxing public is getting tired of seeing Bivol and Beterbiev fight. They want to see some new blood get a chance, but not necessarily Callum. He already fought former IBF, WBC, WBO champion Beterbiev last year in January and was knocked out in the seventh round. American fans want to see David Benavidez and David Morrell get a crack at fighting for the world titles at 175 against Bivol instead of seeing him fight Beterbiev a third time in a row.
When champions fight the same person thrice, it’s unfair to the contenders waiting for their opportunity to compete for a world title. These fights eat up two years, and that’s a long time. Who’s to say that Turki Alalshikh decides to see an immediate fourth fight between Bivol and Beterbiev if he decides to do that? How many times will Turki insist that Bivol and Beterbiev keep fighting? There needs to be new rules in place to prevent champions from fighting the same contender repeatedly, because it’s boring at some point.
No Room to Grow?
Moreover, it stunts the sport’s growth because fans only see the same two fighters repeatedly in rematches that stretch into years. Imagine this happening in other sports where the team owners decide they want to have three consecutive Super Bowls or NBA playoffs involving the same teams just because their games were competitive. That would hurt the leagues. It does the same thing in boxing.
Re: WBO Light Heavyweight Mandatory
1. The WBO Championships Committee has resolved that it is in the best interests of boxing and, most importantly, the fighters themselves to permit the highly anticipated Beterbiev/Bivol Trilogy to proceed as planned.
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) May 14, 2025
Last Updated on 05/14/2025
