TASS

Dmitry Bivol to defend title vs. Malik Zinad

Originally posted on Dice City Sports | By Robert LaMar | Last updated 5/10/24

Dmitry Bivol will defend his WBA light heavyweight title vs. Libya’s Malik Zinad on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following Artur Beterbiev’s withdrawal. Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) steps in to replace Beterbiev, who will undergo knee surgery to repair a ruptured meniscus. Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) hopes to be ready to resume training by September, and there’s hope the undisputed light heavyweight championship fight vs. Bivol will be rescheduled later this year. Zinad will be challenging for his first world title. The 30-year-old scored a victory over Jerome Pampellone last week in Sydney Australia.

Artur Beterbiev ruptured his meniscus in training. The plan is to keep the card on and replace Beterbiev with Malik Zinad (current choice). Bivol vs Zinad won’t be the show’s main event. The event will now be headlined by Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang.

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Fallout

Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang is the new main event, per Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. This fight is very important for Wilder. In order for Wilder to proceed onto his planned Aug. 3 bout with Jared Anderson in Los Angeles, he has to win in impressive fashion. But we’ll see how things shake out with his fight with Zhang. Remember that we’re here with Wilder vs. Zhang because Wilder didn’t uphold his end of the bargain by losing to Joseph Parker while Anthony Joshua won his bout Otto Wallin.

This article first appeared on Dice City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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