By Eóin Kennedy
Riyadh Season has thrown up plenty of great fight cards by now and last Saturday’s event from Saudi Arabia was filled with plenty of intrigue, not least in the main event which was a boxing purist’s dream. The fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol at the top of the card was as technically elite a fight as you could wish to see and both boxers demonstrated the supreme skills that made this bout so hard to predict. Those predictions are now redundant; it’s said and done but not without heated debate regarding the decision. Let’s take a look at what may come next for both Russian fighters after an absorbing undisputed world championship showdown and let’s also take a glance at what the future may hold for some of last Saturday’s competitors.
Artur Beterbiev
Beterbiev was awarded the fight against his compatriot by majority decision and in turn became the stand alone, undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world. It’s seems simple to predict what’s next for Beterbiev given that he already stated that he is willing to give Dmitry Bivol an immediate rematch and that idea also has the backing of Turki Al-Sheikh who felt in his opinion that Bivol won the fight. Al-Sheikh wasn’t alone in his stance that the rightful winner did not get the nod on the night but it was a sufficiently close fight not to be dubbed a robbery and as soon as we can get both men straight back into the ring against one-another then no one will complain. But there is another looming figure that may put the kybosh on the rematch happening next. Boxing’s biggest star, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, is obsessed with his legacy in the sport and he already has revenge against Bivol as a goal of his, but the chance to step up to light-heavyweight again and take on Beterbiev, the man who beat the man that beat him, might be a prospect that whets his appetite. Beterbiev is still a beast but getting taken the distance the first time in his career shows that he is mortal. Canelo may feel that Beterbiev’s style matches up nicely with his own and fighting and defeating the current 178-pound undisputed champion would rubber stamp the Mexican’s all-time-great status within the sport of boxing without question. Canelo and Al-Sheikh have had their own public spats but nothing so personal nor inflammatory that a few hundred million dollars couldn’t make them forget about it. Canelo may fancy the challenge and what Canelo wants he usually gets, but next up for Beterbiev, we see logic prevailing and him going straight into the rematch with Bivol.
Dmitry Bivol
See above. The smart prediction is that the two Russians are going to go straight into round number thirteen with one another. Let’s hope they do!
Fabio Wardley
British and Commonwealth champion, Fabio Wardley, has come a long way since his introduction to boxing through the white collar branch of the sport and his devastating first round knock out win over Frazer Clarke will have catapulted him up through the heavyweight ranking and slingshot him into conversations about fights against the biggest names in the division. The reality at heavyweight is that Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua(the big four) are all tied up and Wardley won’t be able to get his hands on any of them anytime soon. Wardley’s rivalry with Clarke is definitely over for now, so where should the Englishman look next? Wardley holds a ranking title with the WBA so focusing on scaling up their rankings would make sense and eventually could see him obtain mandatory challenger status to their world title that is currently held by Usyk. Kubrat Pulev is ranked at number 8 with the WBA and while most fans have moved on from the Bulgarian war horse as a serious contender since his knockout loss to Joshua four years ago, he would be a logical next step for Wardley, who is still learning on the job. Joe Joyce may not be a bad opponent from a marketability standpoint and Joyce no loner carries the fear factor since losing twice to Zhilei Zhang and drawing with Dereck Chisora. Wardley’s carrying serious power in his hands, but his team still need to be careful not to get too carried away. Frazer Clarke is a great scalp, but it must be remembered that last Saturday was only his tenth professional fight, so Wardley still needs to share the ring with seasoned pros that are more acquainted with the dark arts of the sport, in order to continue his development. Kubrat Pulev would be a sensible next step.
Frazer Clarke
‘Big Fraze’ comes across as one of the most likeable guys in boxing today and his levelheaded approach when talking about his opponents can be very endearing to fans, which made it all the tougher for people to see him endure such a gruelling first round knockout loss and a broken jaw into the bargain last Saturday. Boxing is unforgiving, heavyweight boxing more so than any other weight class and Clarke got caught with a shot and didn’t recover and in the next exchange with Wardley suffered a devastating injury. Clarke subsequently had surgery on his jaw and cheekbone therefore his immediate focus should be on recovery and let’s hope he has a speedy one. It’s a tough injury for a fighter to recover from and hopefully the Olympic bronze medallist will take sufficient time to do so, comeback fights should not be considered for a while yet.
Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron
We’ll lump Whittaker and Cameron in together because there’s only one logical next fight for both men and that’s the rematch. Whittaker has sprung onto the pro-boxing scene since winning a silver medal at the 2020 Olympics and brought with him a style reminiscent of Prince Naseem Hamed. Whittaker’s in-ring showboating is already infamous within boxing, but Liam Cameron successfully stopped him in his tracks and ensured that that his much fancied opponent wouldn’t be doing too much showing off in Riyadh. Whittaker didn’t engage in his trademark jiving and holding his hands low and looking around as if he was having the tine of his life because, well, he wasn’t. Whittaker was struggling with Cameron before the fight’s bizarre ending and showed that he was also able to endure Whittaker’s big shots and not feel significantly hurt. Cameron can feel hard done by not to have gotten the nod, but it was a moral victory of sorts given that many felt he would eventually wilt under the pressure from Whittaker. It was the normally flashier Whittaker that was feeling the pace before the fight was prematurely called to a halt after five rounds and you’d imagine he’ll want to save face by having an immediate rematch; get it made!
Skye Nicolson
Australian Skye Nicolson retained her WBC featherweight world title with a wide points victory over Raven Chapman and in the process kept her dream of fighting Puerto Rican legend, Amanda Serrano, alive. Serrano is currently preoccupied, with preparations ongoing for her upcoming massive rematch with another legend of the sport, Ireland’s Katie Taylor, meaning Nicolson will have to look elsewhere for her next challenge. Nicolson was asked in ring after her victory about her future plans and she name checked American fighter, Tiara Brown. Brown has a perfect record, boasting seventeen victories out of seventeen fights and has been calling out Nicolson’s name for a long time and it looks like she’ll finally get her crack at world honors. There’s no doubt about how effective Nicolson’s fighting style is, as she successfully keeps her opponent on the end of a long-extended reach and racks up rounds by stinging them with one off pot shots. Effective it is but it’s also a little boring and many fighters have said that they’ll be the one to get beyond the Aussie’s long levers and make her pay on the inside. Will Brown be the one to finally succeed in doing so against Nicolson? Who knows, but it looks certain that we’re going to find out, soon.
Raven Chapman
Try as she might, Raven Chapman just wasn’t able to penetrate Nicolson’s defense and alas it wasn’t to be last Saturday night for the English fighter, but she didn’t ship too much and will live to fight another day. In terms of what’s next, Kariss Artingstall is a compatriot that has racked up six wins from six in the pro game since turning over from amateur ranks after the Tokyo Olympics. Artingstall fights under Ben Salom’s Boxxer banner and given that outfit is now under Turki Al-Sheik’s collaborative umbrella, this fight is a distinct possibility as Chapman ply’s her trade for Frank Warren’s Queesnbury. This would be a good scrap if it does get made.