Dmitry Bivol will get another shot at Artur Beterbiev in February 2025. The light heavyweight championship rematch comes after Bivol lost to Beterbiev by majority decision in October.
Bivol, the former WBA champion, tried to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion in their first fight. He fell short in a close battle that went to the scorecards.
As the rematch talks heat up, David Benavidez has shared some interesting news about Bivol. The former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion says he got the better of Bivol during a sparring session.
Benavidez told his story on Cigar Talk:
"I almost dropped him. I'm not lying, I don't have to lie about anything. There were a lot of people that saw the sparring, it was a great sparring session. I sparred him a couple times, but the last time I sparred him I almost dropped him.
I had got him into the corner, we were having 4 rounds and this was the last 20 seconds, I lit him up with 15-20 shots. I'm not lying about that at all. After that when the round ended they said they didn't want to spar anymore."
Benavidez claims Bivol's team stopped the sparring after his strong showing.
The Mexican-American fighter recently beat Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the vacant WBC interim light heavyweight belt. He'll face WBA Regular light heavyweight champion David Morrell in January.
A win for Benavidez could set up a big fight with the winner of Beterbiev vs. Bivol II.
Benavidez has already given his thoughts on who will win the rematch between Beterbiev and Bivol. He points to one key factor that he thinks will stop Bivol from winning, though the details weren't shared.
