Bivol opens at 1/200

Hardly any... I think it's fair under the circumstances though.

Only I guess a fight ending injury for Bivol has more as a ½% chance in my opinion.

 

I was gonna say: "World title fight! "

 

So Bivol is fighting Broadhurst for the vacant WBA.
Betterbiev is fighting Koelling for the vacant IBF.
Alvarez is fighting TBA for the vacant WBC belt

WBC ratings
1 .- Eleider Alvarez (Colombia) SILVER
2 .- Oleksandr Gvozdyk (Ukraine) NABF
3 .- Sullivan Barrera (Cuba) USNBC/INTL
4 .- Marcus Browne (US)
5 .- Artur Beterbiev (Russia)
6 .- Igor Mikhalkin (Russia)
7 .- Joe Smith Jr. (US)
8 .- Karo Murat (Germany) EBU * CBP/P
9 .- Blake Caparello (Australia) *CBP/P
10 .- Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (Ukraine) USNBC

WBO ratings
1 Olexander Gvozdyk (NABO) UKR
2 Sergey Kovalev RUS
3 Sullivan Barrera CUB
4 Marcus Browne USA
5 Artur Beterbiev RUS
6 Enrico Koelling GER
7 Anthony Yarde (WBO Europe) UK
8 Karo Murat ARM
9 Manuel Ceballos (Latino) MEX
10 Mike Lee USA

What a ****up this is.

 

It'll make for good tv, though. Bivol getting a highlight reel ko and grabbing a title. I'm watching.

 

And these greedy sanctioning bodies think that a unification of Bivol vs Beterbiev will excite the fans more.

I understanding having multiple belts but times like this make me think it'd be better with just one major belt per division

 

It'll bounce back quick. All these guys are high risk & don't bring much to the table financially, so there's no choice but to fight each other if they want to build up their brand. There's a ton of fan-friendly fights to get made.

Give 'em titles so those fights can be for unification when they happen, and that'll just add to the hype.

 

When the powers that be want a predictable outcome , they will stop at nothing to ensure it. A 200 TO 1 title fight is an embarrassment.

 

Makes sense. Bivol was the Interim champion before the regular and super belts were vacated and the WBA have done this before (Dorticos promoted from Interim to Regular champion after Shumenov retired). It also explains the less than stellar choice of opposition, it's basically just a gimme first defence for Bivol.

Not that I agree with this kind of move. Be it lineal or alphabet organisation I believe champions should be crowned by having the two best available fighters challenge each other, not by handing the belt on a silver platter to the next in line. Ward's retirement should have opened the door to some stellar fights, instead we get this.

 

This has odds like the Harlem Globetrotters vs Washington Generals.

 

Another Hearn 50/50 stonker.

 

Can't be much worse than Joshua vs Martin.

 

I

Did Adonis Stevenson vacate the WBC title? I thought he was still the WBC champ and the lineal king at light heavyweight?

 

As far as I know he is. I think he just messed up or is he talking about the second tier WBC title.