Bivol Accused Of Ducking A Beterbiev Trilogy

Dmitry Bivol has been accused of avoiding a trilogy with Artur Beterbiev.

The sentiment was expressed by trainer Marc Ramsey following their last fight, which Bivol won to give Beterbiev his first loss to become the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion. The victory avenged Bivol’s loss in the first fight, as all eyes turned on a possible third fight. Bivol vacated his WBC belt, which is now held by David Benavidez, meaning any fight would not be for undisputed.

However, Ramsey stated that Bivol stopped negotiations. Ramsey mentioned that Bivol was offered a significantly larger purse by Russian organizers, which would have been more than the two fights with Beterbiev. Now Beterbiev will box Deon Nicholson on November 22nd, as doubts remain over whether there will be a third fight. 

Ramsey Reacts

“We tried to negotiate a fight with Bivol for months, and he just disappeared. At one point, Riyadh Season wanted to organize that fight, and at one point, there were some people in Russia that wanted to organize that fight in Moscow. They [the Russians] brought a lot of money to the table, and more money than he [Bivol] deserved and more money than he made for the first and second fight in Saudi. He still refused it. He completely disappeared from the negotiations. We decided to go forward with Artur. He’s 40 years old. We don’t want to wait on nobody. 

“He completely disappeared from negotiation, and at one point, there was no calling back or information at all. So, we decided to go in another direction. The way Team Bivol acts right now, I have doubts. We want to get back in the ring soon. So, we decided to go another way. Of course, he wants to fight Bivol a third time, and he wants to do it now. He was ready to do it six years ago, the first fight. Bivol waited and waited until Artur was 40 years old before fighting him,” Ramsay said