Dmitry Bivol’s promoter was surprised by how easy Artur Beterbeiv beat Joe Smith Jr. on Saturday night.
The 37-year-old veteran needed just two rounds to stop his American rival, and became the unified IBF, WBC and WBO champion in the process after taking the latter belt from Smith.
That likely tees up an undisputed clash with WBA champion Bivol in the relatively near future, though Gilberto Ramirez and Anthony Yarde have already been mentioned as potential next fights for Beterbiev.
Andrey Ryabinkskiy, promoter of Bivol, thought that Saturday’s fight in New York was going to last at least a little longer.
“I did not expect such a quick end to the fight,” he said, according to BoxingScene.com. “I thought that the fight would drag on until the eighth or ninth round.
“But this is just my subjective opinion, and the match showed that Artur Beterbiev is in very, very good form. He had a great fight and confidently won. Artur is great, he looked great in battle.”
Bivol beat Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May this year to retain this belt, and with the Mexican set for a trilogy rematch against Gennadiy Golovkin this September (live on DAZN), there is room in the calendar for the two champions to meet.
“We have an interest in organising a fight between Beterbiev and Bivol. I don’t know if it will be possible to organise it in Russia. It would be quite difficult to do. We’ll see, I can’t tell you everything yet. But I’m sure everyone wants to see this fight. And so do we," Ryabinskiy said.