Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s undisputed light heavyweight world title fight has been postponed after Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus in training.
WBC, IBF and WBO champion Beterbiev had been scheduled to face WBA belt holder Bivol in a winner-takes-all showdown on Saturday June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was set to headline a stacked bill that will also see Deontay Wilder collide with Zhilei Zhang and Filip Hrgovic take on Daniel Dubois.
The remainder of the card is still expected to go ahead while the plan is for Beterbiev and Bivol to meet before the end of the year.
Beterbiev is the only world champion in boxing with a perfect 100 per cent knockout rate, having stopped all 20 of his opponents, most recently beating Callum Smith via seventh-round TKO.
He also previously shared the ring with Anthony Yarde, stopping the Londoner in the eighth round in one of the fights of the year in January 2023.
Bivol is an undefeated 22-0 in his career, 11 of his wins coming by knockout, after beating Lyndon Arthur via unanimous decision in Riyadh last December.
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Artur Beterbiev continued his vicious knockout streak as he halted Callum Smith in the seventh round and retained his light heavyweight world titles.
The 33-year-old famously defeated Canelo Alvarez in a unanimous decision victory over the Mexican great in May 2022.
It beckons as a fascinating matchup of styles between the ferocious knockout power of Beterbiev and the elite technical ability of Bivol.
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