Notebook: Bivol aims to deliver win, not message, in Beterbiev rematch
New opponent for Inoue, surgery for Goodman; more on Fury retirement; Jared Anderson comeback set; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol typically keep things calm and respectful with their opponents throughout the lead up to their bouts.
That is how it was when they faced each other to determine the first undisputed light heavyweight champion in 25 years on Oct.12 in a high-level bout Beterbiev won by majority decision — 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114 — that many thought could have gone either way or should have been a draw.
They continued their low-key behavior on Monday at a news conference in London, where they met to kick off the promotion of their rematch, which will headline an absolutely stacked Riyadh Season card on Feb. 22 (DAZN PPV) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While there was a distinct lack of fireworks between them there was one moment of levity that caused the room to break up in laughter.
As the proceedings were coming to an end, Bivol was asked if he had any final message for Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), 39, a two-time Russian Olympian, who is now a Canadian citizen living in Montreal.
“I don’t have any messages. I’m not a postman, I’m an athlete,” Bivol said, eliciting laughter. “I will come to the ring, and we will talk by action.”
Prior to that crack, Bivol was a bit more serious.
“This is a good chance for me,” Bivol said. “I know people liked the first fight and they want to see the second fight, and also I want to be the winner of this fight. What about the belts? Before I wanted to have the belts and nothing else. But today I want not only the belts. I want revenge. I want to fix what I did before. I want to win. It’s not just about belts now.”
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Asked what he needed to do differently to reclaim the WBA belt he lost to Beterbiev and to win the rest, he said, “I need to change enough to prove that I’m better and I need to add more, more actions. We’ve already changed a little bit with our training camp. Now I’m working on myself. Of course, I want to be better. I want to be perfect and I’m trying to be.”
While Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), 34, of Russia, did not complain about the decision, his team stuck up for him.
“The man to my left (Bivol) should be sitting here as undisputed champion right now,” Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said. “When we got in that ring (after the fight) I believe both teams knew there was only one winner in that fight and now it’s time to put it right on Feb. 22.”
Manager Vadim Kornilov also felt his fighter won and was very irritated by the 116-112 scorecard.
“It was a very close fight and nothing to take away from Artur Beterbiev,” Kornilov said. “He did a really, really good job. There’s no doubt the fight was close. I was more upset about one of the decisions. One of the judges seemed to be completely off and that was more upsetting.
“It doesn’t matter what the judges did on Oct. 12, because now is the opportunity for each boxer to make a point and prove that they’re the undisputed champion in the light heavyweight division.”
Beterbiev, who went the distance for the first time as a pro, said he his goal is simply to retain his title, whether he starts a new KO streak or not.
“My goal now is to keep my belts and I will do my best to do that,” Beterbiev said. “Just do enough to win.”
When asked why he could not stop Bivol like had all of his previous opponents, Beterbiev said, “I don’t know, because maybe he (had) luck that night.”
Bivol disagreed with his assessment.
“You know, I don’t believe too much in luck,” Bivol said. “I believe luck will come to people who work a lot. I work on it, and I become lucky. Luck will not come without work.”
Make sure to check out the 2024 award stories
There are nine more fights on the card with six of significance — and most of the fighters were also present at Monday’s media event — making it one of the deepest shows ever.
Also on the card: Daniel Dubois defends the IBF heavyweight title against former world titlist Joseph Parker; Shakur Stevenson defend the WBC lightweight title against Floyd Schofield; Carlos Adames defends the WBC middleweight belt versus Hamzah Sheeraz; Vergil Ortiz Jr. defends the WBC interim junior middleweight title against former world titlist Israil Madrimov; Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel square off for the vacant WBC interim heavyweight title; and Joshua Buatsi defends the WBO interim light heavyweight title against former world titlist Callum Smith.
New Inoue opponent
Undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue has a new challenger.
The Japanese pound-for-pound star will face short-notice replacement Ye Joon Kim on Jan. 24 (ESPN+ in the U.S., 4:15 a.m. ET) at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Hideyuki Ohashi of Ohashi Promotions and Top Rank announced.
Kim took the fight in the wake of IBF/WBO mandatory challenger Sam Goodman being forced out of the bout on Friday after suffering a deep cut over his left eye during a sparring session. The punch that landed re-opened the same cut Goodman suffered in mid-December that required four stitches and forced the entire show to be postponed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 24.
Goodman (19-0, 8 KOs), 26, of Australia, required plastic surgery on the fresh cut, which was worse than the one last month, and he will be sidelined for several months.
“He had surgery on the cut and had eight deep internal and six external stitches,” Goodman manager Pete Mitrevski told Fight Freaks Unite. “Three months recovery minimum before any contact with the face. Hopefully, the IBF and WBO honor their rules and he keeps his mandatory position on a medical exemption. The kid has waited 18 months for his shot and then this happens twice.”
“The Monster” Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs), 31, a four-division champion and two-division undisputed champion, was pleased that Ohashi could secure a new opponent so quickly.
“To be honest, I was surprised, but I'm grateful to chairman Ohashi for providing me with an opponent even in this situation,” Inoue posted to social media and translated from Japanese. “With less than two weeks to go until the match, we’ve managed to switch gears. I’m very sorry to all my fans, but I would appreciate your support on January 24th. I’ll be sure to give you my best performance on the day.”
Inoue will make his fourth overall 122-pound title defense and third of the undisputed crown, which he claimed by knocking out Marlon Tapales in the 10th round of a one-sided fight to unify the four belts in December 2023.
Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs), 32, of South Korea, has never faced a notable opponent and is taking a massive step up in competition. He has won his past two bouts following an eight-round majority decision loss to Rob Diezel, who was 14-9, in April in Auburn, Washington.
Also on the ESPN+ stream will be the 12-round co-feature: Japanese welterweight Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs), 23, against countryman Shoki Sakai (29-14-3, 15 KOs), 34, in a regional title bout.
talkSPORT appearance
As I do every Monday, I joined my friends at talkSPORT in the U.K to discuss the latest in boxing and, of course, this week we chatted about Tyson Fury’s retirement as well as the big Feb. 22 Riyadh Season card that includes Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol II and Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker. Check out the video here:
Jared Anderson comeback
Heavyweight Jared Anderson’s comeback was made official by Top Rank.
Anderson will fight Marios Kollias in a 10-rounder on the undercard of WBO lightweight titlist Denys Berinchyk’s first defense against Keyshawn Davis on Feb.14 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET) at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, confirming a Fight Freaks Unite report. Anderson-Kollias will be part of the preliminary portion of the card on ESPN+ (5 p.m. ET).
Anderson (17-1, 15 KOs), 25, of Toledo, Ohio, who was viewed in recent years as the No.1 American heavyweight contender, is seeking to rebound from a devastating upset fifth-round knockout loss to Martin Bakole in August on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard in Los Angeles.
“I still believe Jared Anderson is one of the most formidable heavyweights in the world, and I expect him to return with a vengeance this year,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said.
Greece native Kollias (12-3-1, 10 KOs), 33, has not been stopped since his pro debut in 2014.
Also officially added to the card was junior bantamweight Juanmita Lopez De Jesus, a 2024 Puerto Rican Olympian and the son of former WBO featherweight and junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez, who was promoted by Top Rank for most of his 2005 to 2019 career.
DeJesus will make his pro debut in a four-rounder against Bryan Santiago (1-1-1, 0 KOs), 21, of Weslaco, Texas, in the same venue where is father won two world title bouts, defending his WBO junior featherweight belt against Rogers Mtagwa in 2009 and winning the WBO featherweight title from Steven Luevano in 2010.
“Juanmita has the family and amateur pedigree to become a world champion and one of the faces of Puerto Rican boxing,” Arum said.
In another fight added to the card, welterweight Keon Davis (1-0, 0 KOs), 23, of Norfolk, Virginia, who is Keyshawn’s younger brother, will face an opponent to be named in a four-rounder. Keon made his pro debut in November and shut out Jalen Moore in a four-rounder on a card headlined by Keyshawn’s second-round knockout of Gustavo Lemos at the Scope Arena in Norfolk.
Quick hits
The IBF announced it has ordered former titlist Subriel Matias and Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela to begin negotiations for a final eliminator to become the mandatory challenger for titleholder Richardson Hitchins. If they do not make a deal by Jan. 26 a purse bid will be scheduled. Matias (21-2, 21 KOs), 32, of Puerto Rico, has won his only fight since losing a decision and the belt to Liam Paro in June before Paro lost a decision and the belt to Hitchins on Dec. 7. Matias was on board for a shot at lineal/WBO champion Teofimo Lopez sometime in the coming months, but Lopez, who is in a snit with promoter Top Rank, turned down the fight. Valenzuela (30-3-1, 17 KOs), 30, of Mexico, has won five fights in a row.
Two 10-round preliminary bouts will stream for free on Prime Video on Feb. 1 (6 p.m. ET) before the start of the David Benavidez-David Morrell main card at 8 p.m. ET at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, PBC announced. In the featured bout, featherweight Mirco Cuello (14-0, 11 KOs), 24, a 2020 Olympian from Argentina, will face Mexico’s Christian Olivo (22-1-1, 9 KOs), 25, and in the opener, middleweight Yoenli Hernandez (6-0, 6 KOs), 27, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, will face Mexican southpaw Angel Ruiz (18-3-1, 13 KOs), 27. “This is the most important fight of my professional career so far and I will be coming into the ring ready to make a name for myself and put the featherweight division on notice,” Cuello said.
Welterweight Harlem Eubank (20-0, 8 KOs), 30, will face Tyrone McKenna in a 12-rounder on March 7 (Channel 5 in U.K.) at Brighton Centre in Brighton, England, Eubank’s hometown, Wasserman Boxing announced on Monday. McKenna (24-5-1, 7 KOs), 34, an Irish southpaw, is 3-4 in his last seven fights but is a step up for Eubank, who is the nephew of British legend Chris Eubank Sr. “McKenna is a fan friendly, aggressive fighter who’s competed at the elite world level,” Eubank said of his foe, who has lost to Jack Catterall and Regis Prograis. “It’s a real exciting fight, and that’s exactly what I’m in this game for.”
Matchroom Boxing announced it has signed 2024 Indian Olympian Nishant Dev, 24, a junior middleweight, who will make his pro debut on the Diego Pacheco-Steven Nelson “Before the Bell” portion of the card on Jan. 25 (DAZN) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Dev, who advanced to the quarterfinals at the Paris Games, was a bronze medalist at the 2023 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan and is a two-time Indian national champion. Dev trains in Las Vegas under Ronald Simms. “My goal is to become India’s first ever world professional boxing champion and I know I have a whole nation behind me to help me achieve this,” Dev said.
Show and tell
Roy Jones Jr., in his pound-for-pound prime, had dropped Reggie Johnson twice and cruised to a shutout decision to unify the light heavyweight division and become the undisputed champion. Seven months later, Jones made his first undisputed defense against contender David Telesco, a brash puncher some thought might give Jones a few problems, in a high-profile HBO fight that headlined the first boxing event in the 68-year history of New York’s famed Radio City Music Hall. The sellout crowd was treated to the sort of Jones master class that was the norm in those days. Fighting on the eve of his 31st birthday, Jones landed a whopping 59 percent of his punches, according to CompuBox, in an absolute wipeout — 120-108, 120-108 and 120-106.
Some questioned why Jones couldn’t score a knockout if he was able to land punches so easily. The reason was because Jones fractured his left wrist in a motorcycle accident less than a month before the fight, but he elected to go through with it and fought primarily with his right hand. The fight took place on Jan. 15, 2000 — 25 years ago on Wednesday. Here is a site poster in my collection.
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Photos: Beterbiev-Bivol: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Goodman: Team Goodman
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At some point MJ needs to get his mandatory shot. It's ridiculous. Can't help the Goodman cut and postponement. But the April flight in the U.S. is already lined up for Inoue to defend against another ranked nobody.
Inoue has avoided MJ, his mandatory, TWICE already. It's OVERDUE. And, he's literally the best opponent remaining in his division. Stop avoiding MJ already.
The universe is speaking to Inoue. Cut the “Marination”, and let’s just get to the Junto Nakatani Mega-Fight! Top Rank and Grandpa Bob knows lol 👨🏻🍳👺🎌