The light heavyweight titles will be unified on Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when IBF-WBC-WBO champion Artur Beterbiev faces WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, Turki Alalshikh announced Saturday.
Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, made the announcement in the ring after Bivol stopped Malik Zinad in the sixth round at Kingdom Arena. Beterbiev and Bivol were scheduled to fight on Saturday on the "5 versus 5" card, but Beterbiev injured a knee in training and had to withdraw.
The bout is one of the best that can be made in boxing and will feature the slugging Beterbiev against the slick-boxing Bivol. Beterbiev, ranked No. 4 pound-for-pound by KevinIole.com, is 20-0 with 20 knockouts. Bivol, ranked No. 8 by KevinIole.com, is 23-0 with 12 knockouts.
It will be the latest in a series of undisputed title bouts since the start of 2023. Oleksandr Usyk is the undisputed heavyweight champion. Canelo Alvarez won and has defended the undisputed super middleweight title. Jermell Charlo was the undisputed super welterweight champion. Terence Crawford stopped Errol Spence last year to win the undisputed welterweight crown.
Devin Haney won the undisputed lightweight belt last year, but vacated to move up to super lightweight. Naoya Inoue won undisputed titles at both bantamweight and super bantamweight.