Beterbiev and Bivol Trilogy Moves to Russia: Both Fighters Prioritize Lucrative Hometown Payday Over Riyadh

Artur Beterbiev and IBF, WBA, and WBO light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol won’t be fighting their trilogy match in November as planned. They’ve chosen to fight in Russia on a still-to-be-determined date and venue.

New Organizer, Russian Payday

Mike Coppinger reports that Turki Alalshikh won’t be involved. He set up the first two Beterbiev-Bivol fights, both of which were staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Coppinger says a different organizer has “promised them lucrative paydays.”

It’s hard to imagine that they can make more money than what Turki would pay them. They reportedly earned $10 million each for their two fights in Riyadh. Russia is the home country of Bivol and Beterbiev.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) still lives there. So, it makes sense for him to want it at home. He won’t have to travel to Riyadh for the trilogy.

Bivol’s IBF Title Risk

The IBF mandatory is due for Bivol for the challenger Michael Eifert. Bivol was already stripped of his WBC title earlier this year when he chose not to defend against his mandatory David Benavidez. He could be stripped of his IBF belt if he doesn’t defend against Eifert next, which he likely won’t do.

Bivol would still have two belts to defend against Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) for the trilogy. Given the popularity of the two fighters and their achievements, it doesn’t matter if no titles are at stake for their third fight. Fans will still want to see them fight, especially in their native Russia.

Fan Fatigue with Trilogy

U.S. boxing fans wanted to see Beterbiev and Bivol take a break from fighting each other and let someone else get a chance. It’s not as interesting to people to see the same fighters battle three straight times without facing others in between. Trilogy matches are okay, but not when the fights occur consecutively.

There was a lot of interest in David Benavidez getting a chance to challenge for the WBC title held by Bivol when he became the mandatory for that belt. But rather than defend against him, Bivol chose not to fight him and forced the WBC to strip him. Some fans believe that Bivol was afraid of losing to Benavidez because he’s a pressure fighter and he has problems against those types.