By Brian Webber: Tony Bellew predicts that WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol will head straight into the undisputed championship match against IBF/WBC/WBO 175-lb champion if he’s victorious on Saturday night on November 5th against Gilberto Ramirez.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) must beat Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) in their bout in Abu Dhabi before he can get to the fight that he wants most of all against Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs).
No doubt that Canelo will make a strong attempt to lure Bivol into facing him in a rematch next May if the Mexican star’s surgically repaired left hand is ready by then for action.
Canelo needs this fight against Bivol after the way he was totally schooled by him last May. Without this match, Canelo’s popularity and standing in boxing are tarnished due to his dominance.
In Canelo’s case, there’s even more of a need for him to fight Bivol next because if he doesn’t, he’ll be faced with massive pressure to take on the winner of the Caleb Plant vs. David Benavidez fight, which is expected to occur in early 2023.
Many boxing fans predict that Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) will win that fight by a rout against the light-punching, stamina-plagued Plant.
Fighting Benavidez would be a nightmare for Canelo because he checks all the boxes for possessing attributes that have always given him problems.
That’s why Canelo will press Bivol hard to take the rematch. If the money Bivol can make fighting Canelo is big enough for him to delay his undisputed match against Beterbiev, he might do it. Otherwise, Bivol will go straight into the fight against Beterbiev to become a four-belt champion at 175.
“I’m thinking he goes straight for Beterbiev,” said Tony Bellew to DAZN News. “He already holds a win over Canelo, and that rematch might still be there for him at some point down the line, but undisputed against Beterbiev is a fight that whets the appetite.
“The classic boxer against the oncoming power, with every single belt at light-heavyweight on the line,” said Bellew about the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight.
If Ramirez wins on Saturday, it’ll be him that will face Beterbiev for the four belts, as the option to face Canelo won’t be there for him.
The outcome in that one will have a lot at stake, and if Bivol was to defeat Canelo and Beterbiev in the space of 18 months, is there any real argument to have him as the best fighter in the sport?” said Bellew.
