By: Shane Willoughby
Where is Dmitry Bivol?
In the eyes of many boxing fans, the most intriguing division is Light Heavyweight. If you look at the young fighters coming up and the fighters already at world level, the division is an absolute minefield. No matter how you look at it there isn’t an easy road to a title.
Dmitry Bivol is seen by many as the best fighter in the division and the WBA Super champion has a perfect record to support that. Whilst the division has other great fighters with the likes of Kovalev, Beterbiev and Gvodzyk, Bivol is definitely the best technically.
However, since signing with Eddie Hearn, Bivols career hasn’t propelled to the levels that would have been expected. One thing Hearn prides himself on is keeping his fighters active, but the Russian has been with Matchroom for 8 months and has only fought in one keep busy fight, and he doesn’t appear to be in any negotiations for any bouts right away.
Bivol looked impressive in his points win over Joe Smith Jr but I can’t imagine that fight being the one he wanted when signing with Hearn.
When we look at how the division is going the WBA champion may have made a massive mistake joining DAZN. When you look at his rivals and the fights they have lined up, it’s an absolute disgrace that someone with Bivol’s ability is sitting on the bench; void of big fights.
Beterbiev and Gvodzyk look set for a fight in October, which is a massive unification. Kovalev is taking one of the most promising prospects in boxing in Anthony Yarde this month, and Jean Pascal just defeated the former interim champion, Marcus Browne.
It looks as if Hearn has done a massive disservice for arguably the best Champion in his roster. However, there was talks of Bivol taking on Canelo which would be a massive fight for the Russian but to say that fight is unlikely is an understatement.
One of the big problems with Bivol is the fact that he is a fantastic fighter but doesn’t have that commercial pull. If you also consider the fact that Hearn doesn’t have any other top fighters at 175 it’s going to be difficult for him to find a big fight.
Regardless of who Bivol fights next, he needs to return to the ring and Eddie Hearn needs to prioritising his champion before he loses him.
