Will Bivol dare to face Opetaia in 200?

Fans want to see Dmitry Bivol ascend to the weight champion for Cruesser and challenge the FIB Jai Opetaia champion for his credit after his victory over the undisputed super medium champion Artur Beterbiev in his rematch last Saturday night.

Opetaia would probably welcome a fight against Bivol because he speaks very well of him and likes his technical skills. A lot of courage would be needed by Bivol to gain weight by 25 pounds, but that is similar to what Canelo Alvarez tried when he rose to 175 and fought against him in 2022.

Bivol promoters in Matchroom Boxing have been telling fans and the media that are 2-0 against Becterbiev because they feel that it deserved a victory in the first fight last October. If they really believe that, it means that there are no more mountains to climb at 175. Bivol could well go to the cruise weight to challenge the king of division, Opetaia (27-0, 21 kos).

They do not want Bivol (24-1, 12 kO) to do that because the risk of Opetaia being knocked out would be too high. In addition, the promoters of Matchroom Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith hope Canelo Álvarez wants to fight him in a rematch. That is not very likely, but they expect it to happen.

If Bivol does not fight Beterbiev in a trilogy match and does not get Canelo’s fight, moving on to the cruise weight for a battle against Opetaia makes more sense. Let’s see if the bivol movement, the rapid combinations and the clinches will work for him against Jai. There is not so much difference in the size between them.

Bivol options in 168

– Beterbiev trilogy
– Canelo Alvarez
– David Benavidity
– Callum Smith
– Terence Crawford
– Anthony Yard

The trilogy with Bederbiev will be reduced to if Turki Alalshikh wants to chase her. He must be aware that fans are not so interested in seeing a third fight between them. They want something different.