Dmitry Bivol reportedly turned down an offer of $8 million to defend his undisputed light heavyweight championship against his WBC mandatory David Benavidez. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that Bivol (24-1, 2 KOs) turned down the deal to fight Benavidez.
Bivol’s Big Offer
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN Knockout reports that Sulaiman said Bivol’s purse for his rematch with Artur Beterbiev was for $2.7 million, which, if true, makes it hard to understand why Dmitry would reject $8M for a fight against Benavidez unless he was worried about losing to him. Bivol had been rumored to have received $10 million for the two fights with Beterbiev.
There would be more fan interest in a fight between Bivol and ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) than a third one with Artur Beterbiev. Fans have already seen Bivol and Beterbiev battle twice. It’s a fight that has lost much of its luster due to the two bouts failing to be the wars. They were technical chess matches.
Those kinds of fights are okay to watch once, but not three consecutive times without a break in between for a more entertaining one between a brawler. Beterbiev is a knockout artist, but his feet and hand speed are too slow for him to catch up to Bivol. At 40, Artur’s stamina isn’t what it once was. David Benavidez would have made it exciting with the way he’d hunt Bivol down and force him to fight or surrender.
Bivol surrendered his WBC light heavyweight title so that he could swerve Benavidez and fight a trilogy match against Artur. It’s okay for Dmitry to do this if his purse is bigger than the $8M that he would have gotten.
Style Clash Avoided?
From Bivol’s perspective, he’d rather fight the aging Beterbiev than face the much younger, faster, high-volume puncher Benavidez. His chances of defeating Artur are greater than if he fought Benavidez.
Bivol rejected an 8 million dollars offer from Benavidez: WBC https://t.co/96cAJoc81i
— Salvador Rodriguez (@ChavaESPN) April 8, 2025
Last Updated on 04/08/2025
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