Artur Beterbiev v Dmitry Bivol preview

Boxing fans eagerly await the highly-anticipated matchup between two unbeaten fighters in pursuit of the same goal, becoming the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will meet in the ring at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday 12th October for the blockbuster bout that has had fans frothing at the bit since the initial fight was postponed back in June.

We preview the fight below and have our say on who we think will walk away with the four belts on offer.

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Artur Beterbiev 11/10

It’s no secret that Artur Beterbiev is an absolute machine in the ring, having won all 20 of his fights since his professional debut in 2013 by knockout. He has reigned as the light-heavyweight champion since 2017, claiming the IBF belt in his 12-round bout against Enrico Kölling. He then picked up the WBC belt two years later from Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the latter stages of the tenth round, before his most recent belt haul, claiming the WBO light-heavyweight title when dispatching Joe Smith Jr. in the second round in 2022.

Since then, Beterbiev has fought twice to retain all three belts, fending off both Anthony Yarde in 2023, and Callum Smith earlier this year. As a knockout specialist, taking on the mighty Bivol will be by far his greatest challenge yet, with the most at stake. There is plenty on the line here, but it’ll likely be business as usual for the Russian-born fighter, as he’s more than capable of performing under pressure like this. That said, he is the slight underdog which one can only imagine is due to the fact he’s spent almost half as much time as his opponent in the ring. Beterbiev has never been taken the distance, which is priced at 4/6, but this could be it.

Despite both being extremely talented fighters in their own right, should Beterbiev turn up on the day and put on an immaculate display, the bet looks to be Beterbiev to Win, Beterbiev to Throw Most Punches and Both Fighters Knocked Down at 20/1.

Dmitry Bivol 4/5

Bivol is a real technician when it comes to ability in the ring, proven time and time again in his 23 professional bouts in which his record is unblemished. Back in May of 2016, his seventh professional fight, Bivol picked up the WBA light-heavyweight title which he has since retained. He added to his collection more recently in December of 2023 when winning against Lyndon Arthur by unanimous decision to claim the IBO light-heavyweight title.

Given Beterbiev’s withdrawal in June, Bivol faced up against Malik Zinad and handed the Libyan boxer his first career loss by way of technical knockout in the sixth round. Bivol is yet to find himself such a high-profile fight since that against the great Mexican Canelo Álvarez in 2022, where he went the full 12 rounds, winning by unanimous decision. The only other person to have got the better of Álvarez in his 66-fight career is Floyd Mayweather Jr. To this day, that has been Bivol’s most significant fight, until now.

Beterbiev will undoubtedly be his toughest test to date, and with four titles on the line, both fighters will stop at nothing to keep their unbeaten records on track. Bivol is proven over the full 12 rounds and has won just under half of his fights by knockout, and it’ll be interesting to see which approaches these two will opt for to take each other down.

We do, however, fancy Bivol at odds of 4/5, with our best bet to be Dmitry Bivol to be Knocked Down & Win at 10/1 with William Hill’s Enhanced Odds.