{"id":656916,"date":"2026-06-25T04:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T04:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656916\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T04:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T04:37:08","slug":"artur-beterbiev-names-his-top-target-opponent-for-comeback-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656916\/","title":{"rendered":"Artur Beterbiev names his top target opponent for comeback fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former undisputed light-heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev<\/a> is yet to fight since losing the 175lb throne, but the Russian-Canadian has one target in mind ahead of his return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beterbiev became the first undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the four-belt era when he claimed a historic majority-decision over perennial rival Dmitry Bivol back in October 2024. In their rematch, just four months later, Bivol scored a majority-decision win of his own to take home all four belts.<\/p>\n

Since then, 41-year-old Beterbiev has grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of a third fight, believing that Bivol is trying to age him out<\/a> and face him when he has declined, particularly after Bivol returned from 15 months of inactivity to instead take on IBF mandatory challenger, Michael Eifert<\/a>, last month.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Inside The Ring<\/a>, Beterbiev spoke of his own return, maintaining that he would still prefer a trilogy showdown with Bivol, rather than a clash with rising pound-for-pound superstar David Benavidez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect what David Benavidez has already done in boxing. He\u2019s become a three [division] world champion. I\u2019m not avoiding this kind of fight, with Benavidez or anyone else, but first of all I\u2019m more focused to [fight Bivol again].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want the rubber match. I think everybody wants it. I feel good. If you want to check if I\u2019m good or not, make this happen and I\u2019ll show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Benavidez set to remain at cruiserweight and challenge for the WBC world title<\/a>, the path seems clear for Bivol-Beterbiev III, with Russia understood to be the most likely location for the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former undisputed light-heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev is yet to fight since losing the 175lb throne, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-656916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}