WBA ‘Super’ champion Dmitriy Bivol and IBO titlist Lyndon Arthur clash in light-heavyweight unification
The monumental ‘Day of Reckoning’ card on December 23 in Saudi Arabia is jampacked with six mammoth heavyweight matches, but a lot of the attention will be stolen away by the only world title fight on the entire bill.
WBA ‘Super’ champion Dmitriy Bivol (21-0, 11KO) and IBO titlist Lyndon Arthur (23-1, 16KO) will clash in light-heavyweight unification.
Briton Arthur, 32, won the IBO belt in his last fight against hard-hitting Argentine, Braian Nahuel Suarez (18-2, 17KO), just over three months ago.
Born in Kyrgyzstan, Californian-based Bivol has already made 10 defences of his black and gold WBA belt, which was upgraded to the ‘Super’ version in 2019.
Starting with the clear bookies favourite, Bivol has two main assets in his arsenal, and that’s his jab and judgement of range.
His defence and ability to box off the backfoot are masterful too, plus his lateral movement is effortless and he’s very comfortable and composed on the ropes. Not even Canelo was able to get to him during their May 2022 contest, which Bivol won via UD.
In his last fight, in November 2022, 44-0 challenger Gilberto Ramirez had a huge size and reach advantage over Bivol, but it was the champion who was landing straight shots freely, although ‘Zurdo’ was able to catch him cleanly with his close southpaw jab on a several occasions, but that is to be expected against a tricky southpaw, who has a much longer reach.
The 33-year-old Russian does adopt a high guard so very little gets through upstairs, but in Arthur’s last fight he was able to win via one-punch KO to the body. With Bivol’s hands so high, there is space to land below, but Ramirez didn’t seem to affect him in any way when he attacked downstairs.
Trained by Pat Barrett in Manchester, Arthur was able to stop Suarez in his tracks with a left hook to the body in round 10, but he had to overcome an early knockdown and a few scary moments to come from behind to win the fight.
It was an impressive finish, but not remarkable enough to give him much of a chance against a world-class fighter like Bivol, who is technically and defensively brilliant.
The fact that Bivol has had 10 world championship wins compared to Arthur’s solitary one, and that one is world champion of the oldest belt in boxing history and the other of the newest, is all that’s needed to show the difference in levels between these two champions.
Betting Odds
1/8 Bivol
5/1 Arthur
18/1 Draw
Predictions
Both light-heavyweights are world champions with fantastic jabs and judgement of range, but one is an elite world champion and the other is brand-new.
Bivol’s career-best win was a unanimous decision over four-weight world champ and pound-for-pound megastar, Saul Canelo Alvarez, whereas Arthur’s was a split decision win over Anthony Yarde, who later got revenge on him by knocking him out early.
This pair are on different levels and I really hope the fight will be even, with Arthur having some success, but it’s more likely to be very one-sided.
Bivol has been operating on this world stage for over six years, and the likes of Canelo and Gilberto Ramirez couldn’t even win on one of the three judges scorecards against the skilful stylist.
I believe Bivol will completely dominate to win via knockout in the first half of the contest.
Verdict: Bivol to defeat Arthur by KO 1-6.
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