Boxing

Eddie Hearn Questions Whether Canelo Alvarez Situation Forced WBC To Strip Dmitry Bivol

Eddie Hearn hints Canelo Alvarez situation might have forced WBC to strip Dmitry Bivol.

Apratim Banerjee

IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Dmitry Bivol recently vacated his WBC light heavyweight title as he chose the Artur Beterbiev trilogy over the WBC mandatory David Benavidez. Bivol became the undisputed champion when he defeated Artur Beterbiev via decision in February 2024.

Benavidez, meanwhile, was the WBC interim champion, winning the belt in his first light heavyweight fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He has since defeated David Morrell and retained his position as the mandatory.

Bivol's decision to vacate the WBC title promoted Benavidez as the WBC light heavyweight champion. Eddie Hearn thinks Canelo Alvarez's situation with Benavidez at 168 lbs might have saw the governing body play their hands differently with Bivol.

MORE: Canelo Alvarez Fight Team Member Reportedly Reveals Unfortunate Camp Rumor

The Matchroom Boxing CEO is flabbergasted by the way Bivol has been treated and told BoxingScene:

It’s a bit strange. When you first win the title normally you get a little bit of grace. It wasn’t like going into that fight, ‘By the way, the winner must fight Benavidez’. He won his fight, and then they put the mandatory straight on Dmitry. ‘We have a contract to fight Beterbiev, so we can’t do that.’ ‘Oh, well we’re gonna call purse bids.’ F*cking hell – alright. Then it’s like, ‘He’s been offered $8m – he’s not taking it’. You can’t put that information out…

David Benavidez pursued a Canelo Alvarez fight for a long time at super middleweight. Alvarez holds the WBC title in the division, but a fight between the two Mexicans has never happened. Hearn questioned whether that played a role in the WBC trying to handle the Bivol situation differently. He added:

I don’t know whether the WBC were under pressure because of the situation with ‘Canelo’, where Benavidez had to wait a long time. But I would have expected the governing body to say, ‘Fair enough – it’s the biggest fight in boxing. It’s the trilogy. We’ll allow it. But the winner has to fight Benavidez’.

Hearn further added that Benavidez has just won his fight against David Morrell and therefore hasn't been waiting long to get his shot at Bivol or the belt. Hence, their decision is a bit confusing.

As for Dmitry Bivol, he is now 1-1 against Artur Beterbiev and is looking forward to a trilogy fight to settle the score with his compatriot.

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Apratim Banerjee
APRATIM BANERJEE

Apratim is an experienced sports journalist and has covered Football, Boxing, MMA, and more for the past five years. He has worked for Sports Illustrated, Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and other publications. Apratim is currently pursuing an MSc. in Sport Marketing at Loughborough University London.