The second most meaningful boxing match of 2024 will take place in the same space where this year’s most historically significant fight took place just under five months ago.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will fight Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, because Turki Alalshikh – the only man willing to meet their respective asking prices – wants him to. Beterbiev, Bivol and members of their teams all admitted during a final press conference in Riyadh on Thursday evening that their long-awaited showdown would not have finally happened if Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority had not fully funded it.

Their promoters could not take their fight for the unification of the light heavyweight title to Russia – where Beterbiev was born and raised and Bivol lived much of his life – because boxing’s sanctions organizations would not support the event there as long as Russia continued its war continued with Russia. Ukraine. Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs), a native of Kyrgyzstan, was hesitant to box Beterbiev in Montreal, where Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) has lived and trained for more than a decade, because despite this, they would have made their fight more profitable made, that would have put the undefeated WBA champion at a distinct disadvantage.

Beterbiev vs. Taking Bivol to Las Vegas, New York or Los Angeles wouldn’t have worked economically either, for the reason that was so obvious as they sat a few feet apart in the Saudi capital on Thursday evening. As historically important and fascinating as this fight is between two of the top 10 pound-for-pound boxers in the sport, it essentially sells itself because neither Beterbiev nor Bivol are remotely interested in promoting it.

This fight should sells itself, mind you, but Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, doubled down Thursday by calling Beterbiev “arrogant” for essentially being an uncooperative participant in the promotion of a fight that, barring a draw or no contest, would be the first completely united light of boxing will crown. heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.

English is not Beterbiev or Bivol’s first language, which has partly prevented them from becoming bigger stars in the United States. Before this influx of Saudi money into the industry, the US market was more important due to the above-mentioned factors that prevented promoters from Beterbiev vs. Bivol to Russia or Quebec.

Yet both boxers have preferred to let their hands do the talking in a business that, whether they like it or not, requires more than the entertainment value that even Beterbiev’s 100 percent knockout ratio has provided since he was 11 years old. became a professional ago.

That’s why Hearn was quick to joke that Beterbiev “should give it a try,” when the undefeated IBF/WBC/WBO 175-pound champion claimed the mouthy Matchroom Boxing chairman “talks a lot.”

“I think he’s arrogant,” Hearn explained. “I think all fighters are arrogant. I think you have to be arrogant. But (calling Beterbiev arrogant) was more of a frustration to make sure the world was aware of what this fight is and what it means. Because as stone cold as Artur Beterbiev and as stone cold as Dmitry Bivol is, there is still that young boy who found boxing, who changed his life through boxing, who had a dream to win every title in the sport.

“And sometimes one-word answers don’t always tell me the pure emotion and meaning of what victory would do for them on Saturday night. Artur Beterbiev is one of the greatest fighters of our generation. And the guy to my right (Bivol) is one of the purest boxers I’ve ever seen.”

Much like boxing’s biggest match of 2024, Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury, Beterbiev vs. Bivol is widely considered a fight that could go either way. Fury, of course, is a PT Barnum-level carnival barker who single-handedly sells his heavyweight fights.

His promotional mastery helped Fury and Ukraine’s Usyk earn combined sums approaching $100 million for a heavyweight title unification clash that Usyk won via split decision on May 18. Their immediate rematch is scheduled for December 21 at Kingdom Arena.

Beterbiev, 39, and Bivol, 33, will each earn about $10 million for a fight that Beterbiev’s main promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., pushed out of the troubled pay-per-view platform in the United States stayed. American fans with an ESPN+ subscription can watch Beterbiev vs. Watch Bivol live at no extra cost, while British boxing fans will have to pay £19.99 to watch the main event of a DAZN pay-per-view event in the UK.

Bivol believes his boxing skills, ring IQ and athleticism will help separate this technician from Beterbiev, a punishing puncher whose boxing skills are underrated. Bivol, a long-reigning champion, upset superstar Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision in May 2022 but was unable to capitalize on the momentum of his convincing, historic victory as the two could not reach financial terms for a rematch.

Beterbiev, meanwhile, is aiming for his own performance that will define his legacy by the end of his career, limited to 20 fights in 11 years, largely due to various injuries and the devout Muslim’s lengthy legal battle with former promoter Yvon Michel.

“It’s hard to argue with perfection – 20-0, 20 knockouts,” said Brad Jacobs, Chief Operating Officer of Top Rank. ‘The man did it. He is a true professional. If you look up the word professional fighter in the dictionary, you will see his photo. What you see is what you get. There is so much at stake in this fight: uncontested, undefeated, the winner certainly checks his ticket to the Hall of Fame. So we are really looking forward to it and confident that the knockout power will win in the end.”

While Beterbiev is eager to finally fight Bivol, the closest Beterbiev comes to bullshit is the cruel knockout artist who insists this fight didn’t happen sooner because Bivol doesn’t really want it.

Manager Vadim Kornilov, who has worked with Bivol for almost a decade, refuted Beterbiev’s belief that Bivol avoided him, as did Hearn. They also argued that Bivol’s power was overlooked because before his sixth-round stoppage of previously undefeated Malik Zinad in his last fight on June 1 in Riyadh, each of Bivol’s previous nine fights had gone the distance of covered 12 laps.

“This is it,” Hearn said. “This is the moment for both men. I believe that Dmitry Bivol will become undisputed world champion on Saturday evening. He will achieve his lifelong dream. And he fights at the level of the opposition, and on Saturday night he has the toughest opponent in the division in front of him. There is only one man in the world who can beat Artur Beterbiev, and that is Dmitry Bivol. And that will happen on Saturday evening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”