Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he will be open to a rematch between lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol and Canelo Alvarez in 2025, regardless of whether Bivol wins his next fight against 175lb unified champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12 in Riyadh.
Hearn stated that if WBA champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) defeats IBF, WBC and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) in their 12-round contest at the Kingdom Arena next month, he will have the opportunity to make the undisputed championship match between Dmitry and Canelo.
If Bivol loses to Beterbiev, he can drop to 168 to face unified super middleweight champion Canelo for his three titles. Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) recently said he would like to fight a rematch with Bivol, 33, if he is victorious against Beterbiev on October 12. However, Canelo has not said anything about still wanting to fight Bivol if he is coming off a loss and is without a belt.
It’s much less attractive to Canelo for obvious reasons. He has nothing to gain from fighting Bivol under these conditions. From Hearn’s perspective, it is understandable why he wanted Bivol to fight Canelo next, win or lose, because he promotes the Russian fight, and the money that a rematch would have would be sustainable.
Bivol won’t make the same kind of money fighting anyone else at 175, and his career could sink to the bottom in a rematch with Beterbiev if he slips up in their October 12 fight. The last thing Hearn wanted was for Bivol to get knocked down a second time by Beterbiev and get stuck with a lackluster fight.
“If Dmitry Bivol beats Artur Beterbiev, we have the opportunity to make Dmitry Bivol against Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed world lightweight championship, which suddenly brings a different kind of attraction to the fight (Beterbiev-Bivol ) for Canelo,” he said. Eddie Hearn at Boxing newsdiscussing his hopes for a rematch between Canelo and Bivol.
Canelo lost to Bivol by a 12-round unanimous decision two years ago on May 7, 2022, in Las Vegas. The scores were 115-113, 115-113 and 115-113. However, the fight was much more one-sided than the scores the three T-Mobile Arena judges gave.
“If Dmitry were to lose (to Beterbiev (, he could go down to 168 to challenge Canelo Alvarez, which he is capable of doing. So, obviously, we want to see Dmitry win this fight, and if Canelo wants it, I’d like) to make it happen” , Hearn said.
