Artur Beterbiev has chosen to move on from his attempts to negotiate a trilogy fight with Dmitry Bivol after Bivol disappeared from negotiations. Beterbiev’s trainer Mark Ramsey says Bivol “disappeared” and stopped calling back.
Ramsey says Bivol was being offered more money by the Russian organizers that would have been greater than what he received in both of their fights. He still chose not to go through with the fight.
The former undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) is now fighting Deon Nicholson on November 22nd at the ANB Arena in Riyadh.
Bivol disappears from fight negotiations
“We tried to negotiate a fight with Bivol for months, and he just disappeared. At one point, Riyadh Season wanted to organize that fight, and at one point, there were some people in Russia that wanted to organize that fight in Moscow,” said trainer Marc Ramsey to Secondsout, detailing the difficulties Artur Beterbiev has had trying to negotiate a third fight with Dmitry Bivol.
Obviously, Bivol felt the money wasn’t good enough for him to pursue a third fight with Beterbiev because he wouldn’t walk away from it were a number far bigger than what he got for the first two fights.
Both fights were hard for Bivol, as he took more punishment from Beterbiev than in any other fight during his career. He took a beating in the 12th round alone in the rematch with Artur last February. He was lucky that Beterbiev didn’t put that kind of pressure on him the entire fight because he wouldn’t have been able to withstand it.
Marc Ramsey details Bivol’s actions
“They [the Russians] brought a lot of money to the table, and more money than he [Bivol] deserved and more money than he made for the first and second fight in Saudi. He still refused it. He completely disappeared from the negotiations,” said Ramsey about Bivol. “We decided to go forward with Artur. He’s 40 years old. We don’t want to wait on nobody.”
It’s good that Beterbiev hasn’t wasted the remainder of 2025 with his negotiations for the trilogy. He’s fighting Deon Nicholson now on November 22nd in Riyadh, and he could face David Benavidez after that.
Beterbiev won’t wait for Bivol
“He completely disappeared from negotiation, and at one point, there was no calling back or information at all. So, we decided to go in another direction. The way Team Bivol acts right now, I have doubts,” said Ramsey when asked if he believes the trilogy fight will happen. “We want to get back in the ring soon. So, we decided to go another way.
Bivol wouldn’t have disappeared from negotiations if someone hadn’t promised him an even bigger payday fighting another fighter. The one that’s being talked about is Bivol fighting Canelo Alvarez or possibly Terence Crawford next, after those two meet next month on September 13th.
The crazy money Crawford is getting, it’s understandable why Dmitry would want to fight the winner of that fight rather than for $10 million or whatever is being offered for a third fight with Beterebiev.
Crawford is getting $50 million for the Canelo fight. Bivol would know that it’s too risky fighting Beterbiev again and potentially lose that fight. If he were to get beaten again by Artur, his chances of fighting the Canelo-Crawford winner might go down the drain.
“Of course, he wants to fight Bivol a third time, and he wants to do it now. He was ready to do it six years ago, the first fight. Bivol waited and waited until Artur was 40 years old before fighting him,” said Ramsey.
Even with Bivol waiting six years, Beterbiev still beat him and deserved the victory in their rematch last February. The judges really worked Artur over in the second Bivol clash in Riyadh. At the worst, Beterbiev deserved a draw.
Last Updated on 08/06/2025
Read the full article here