Artur Beterbiev Reveals Unexpected Reason for Dmitry Bivol Trilogy Holdup: "It's Not What You Think"

Ronald Crawley July 5, 2025, 5:10 p.m.
None

Artur Beterbiev says Dmitry Bivol is dragging his feet on their trilogy fight. The two light-heavyweight champions have already traded wins, and fans are eager to see who'll come out on top in the rubber match.

Beterbiev and Bivol first met in October 2024. Beterbiev won by majority decision and became the undisputed light-heavyweight champion. But Bivol evened the score just four months later in February 2025, taking the titles with his own majority decision win.

After their second fight, both camps agreed to a third bout to settle the score once and for all. Bivol even gave up his WBC belt to make it happen. But now, the fight that was supposed to happen by the end of 2025 doesn't have a set date.

Beterbiev took to social media to air his frustrations about the delay. He pointed out that their first fight in October was the result of five years of trying to unify the belts.

"We agreed on the rematch the day after the first fight. It happened within four months, even though I'd just had an operation. My coach and doctor were against it, but we did it anyway."

Beterbiev says he wanted to get the third fight going quickly. There were rumors it might happen in August, but then Bivol suggested late autumn, then the end of the year. Now, there's no date at all.

The 40-year-old Beterbiev ended his post with a jab at his rival:

"Dima, how old do I have to be so that we can fight for the third time?"

Both fighters have proven they're at the top of their game. Fans will have to wait and see when these two light-heavyweight stars will finally settle their rivalry in the ring.

Share

More Stories

Comments

var _paq = window._paq = window._paq || []; _paq.push(['trackPageView']); _paq.push(['enableLinkTracking']); (function() { var u="//mm.magnet.kiev.ua/"; _paq.push(['setTrackerUrl', u+'matomo.php']); _paq.push(['setSiteId', '1']); var d=document, g=d.createElement('script'), s=d.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; g.async=true; g.src=u+'matomo.js'; s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s); })();