Wbo allows Bivol-Beeterbiev trilogy, postponing Callum Smith’s mandatory trait

The WBO Committee has decided to allow the lightweight heavy weight champion, Dmitry Bivol, to fight his trilogy match with Artur Beeterbiev instead of defending Callum Smith’s mandatory answering machine. Smith (31-2, 22 ko), temporary champion of Wbo, can voluntarily fight. The WBO indicates the interest of the fans in seeing the trilogy struggle between Bivol (24-1, 22 kos) and Beterbiev (21-1, 20 kos). Bivol won the resuscitation for a majority decision of 12 rounds for the score 115-113, 116-112 and 114-114.

Where is the new blood?

U.S. boxing audience is tired of seeing Bivol and Bertebiev Fight. They want to see that some new blood has a chance, but not necessarily Callum. He has already fought against the ex -IBF’s champion, WBC, Beterbiev last January and was eliminated in the seventh round. North -American fans want to see that David Benavidez and David Morrell are spanning in the fight for world titles in 175 against Bivol instead of seeing him fight Beterbiev for the third time in a row.

When the champions fight the same person three times, it is unfair to the contestants waiting for their opportunity to compete for a world title. These fights eat two years, and that is a long time ago. Who means Turki Alralikh decides to see a fourth immediate struggle between Bivol and Beterbiev if he decides to do it? How many times will Turki insist on fighting Bivol and Beeterbiev? There need to be new rules to prevent the champions from fighting repeatedly with the same contestant, because at some point it is boring.

No room to grow?

On the other hand, it focuses the growth of sport because fans only see the same two fighters repeatedly in resale that extend in years. Imagine -this happens in other sports where team owners decide that they want to have three consecutive Super Bowls or NBA playoffs that involve the same teams only because their matches were competitive. That would hurt the leagues. It does the same in boxing.

Re: Wbo Light Required Heavy Weight

1. The WBO Championship Committee has resolved that it is of the interest of boxing and, most importantly, the fighters themselves to allow the long -awaited Beterbiev/Bivol trilogy to proceed as planned.

– Gustavo Olivieri, esq. (@Olivieriilaw) May 14, 2025