Eddie Hearn: Bivol Will Secure “Much Easier” Trilogy Victory, Calls For Canelo Challenge

Promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter, Dmitry Bivol, will beat former undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev “much easier” if they fight again.

Hearn’s Canelo Push

Hearn claims that Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) is “going to get better and better.” He’s now pushing for Canelo Alvarez to move up to 175 to challenge Bivol for his titles. That was one of the things that Hearn had talked about leading up to the fight. He felt that if Bivol captured the undisputed championship from Beterbiev, it would motivate Canelo to move up in weight to face him for the belts.

Hearn will need to lower his expectations about the fights that Bivol can get now that he’s the four-belt champion. These are Bivol’s real options:

Artur Beterbiev – trilogy
David Benavidez: WBC mandatory
Callum Smith

The Mercenary Factor

The only way that can happen is if Turki Alalshikh throws an insane amount of money at Canelo, as he’s doing with the Terence Crawford fight in September. If Turki is willing to pay, he could lure Canelo to even cruiserweight to challenge IBF champion Jai Opetaia. Alvarez is a mercenary and will fight anyone if the price is right.

Apart from that, he won’t give Bivol the time of day. He already lost to him three years ago by a 12-round unanimous decision on May 7, 2022, and the contest was one-sided enough for Canelo to choose not to try and avenge the loss. So, unless Turki offers the 5’8″ Canelo an enormous amount of money, he’s not going to fight Bivol ever again because it’s an unwinnable fight for him. As we saw last time, he’s too small to beat the 6’1″ Bivol.

Bivol dethroned the previously unbeaten Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) last Saturday night, winning a twelve-round majority decision at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bivol ran around the ring all night, throwing punches and holding. Beterbiev appeared to win six rounds.

Many fans saw the fight as a draw and NOT as a win, but the judges gave it to Bivol by scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114. I had it a draw, but it was expected that Bivol would win. Some people believe that Bivol won because there are more possibilities to make money with him as the champion than if Beterbiev holds the four belts. Canelo and David Benavidez would be more open to fighting the finesse fighter Bivol than Beterbiev.

The 8-4 score by the American judge for Bivol was a real surprise because it was so off that it gave the impression that Beterbiev never had a chance of winning.

“There are so many fights out there. Canelo Alvarez, does he really want to roll the dice to try and become a two-weight world champion at light heavyweight?” said promoter Eddie Hearn, who is pushing for Canelo Alvarez to move up to 175 to challenge his fighter, Dmitry Bivol for his undisputed light heavyweight championship.

“Dmitry is ready for all comers, and by the way, he’s going to get better and better. If he fights Beterbiev again, he’ll beat him much easier this time,” said Hearn.

‘If @bivol_d fights Artur Beterbiev again, he’ll beat him much easier this time’ 👀 @EddieHearn pic.twitter.com/Jlad5X5har

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 26, 2025