Just saw that these two may have their trilogy match in mid 2027. This fight sucks for both of them. Bivol's career has been a disappointment. Good for him for landing the Canelo fight, but I don't rate the win. Canelo was already deteriorating and slow, then moved up 7 pounds to face an elite mover in his first fight at the weight. Canelo went on to do nothing impressive after the loss. Beterbiev has a better resume by far. The Gvozdyk win, destruction of Joe Smith to become unified, tearing through a lot of very solid top 10 type guys, and ultimately taking Bivol's 0 at age 39 to be undisputed and undefeated is a helluva career. I thought Beterbiev was overall the stronger, better fighter in their fights, despite being around 40 to Bivol's 32. Bivol, by comparison, looked like he was on a good path after beating Ramirez, then sat around facing a top 15 guy every year waiting for Artur to get older (he's still doing this now I guess). It seemed like Bivol wasn't in a hurry to make the first fight either. It's an odd situation. I like Bivol - I think he's a very good fighter, but I liked him a lot more 6-7 years ago. Of the two of them, Beterbiev seems like the more eager fighter, the better fighter, and ultimately the greater fighter.
