Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol fight postponed after Beterbiev injures knee
The fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed 175-pound championship, scheduled for June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was postponed after Beterbiev injured his knee in training.
The IBF, WBC and WBO titleholder ruptured his meniscus, Top Rank announced in a news release.
The promotional company plans to stage the light heavyweight showdown before the end of the year.
The 5 vs. 5 portion of the show, in which fighters from Matchroom and Queensberry Promotions will face one another, will go on as scheduled June 1 on DAZN.
These are the five fights:
- Deontay Wilder vs. Zhelei Zhang, heavyweights
- Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois, heavyweights
- Raymond Ford vs. Nick Ball, featherweights (for Ford’s WBA title)
- Austin Williams vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, middleweights
- Craig Richards vs. Willy Hutchinson, light heavyweights
The Beterbiev-Bivol bout has been highly anticipated, as both fighters are unbeaten and on pound-for-pound lists.
Beterbiev, 39, has stopped all 20 of his opponents, including Callum Smith in seven rounds in January.
Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) is best known for defeating Canelo Alvarez in May 2022. He has since outpointed then-unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez and Lyndon Arthur by one-sided decisions.
The Arthur fight took place in in December, meaning Bivol will have been out of action for extended period of time in light of the postponement.