The 175-pound TITLEHOLDER DMITRY BIVOL WILL BE BASE BELOW AGAINST UMAR SALAMOV ON SATURDAY in Russia.
Dmitry Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs) vs Umar Salamov (26-1, 19 KOs)
- Day: Saturday, December 11
- Time: 11:45 a.m. ET / 8:45 a.m. PT
- Where: Ekaterinburg, Russia
- TV / Stream: DAZN
- Assignment: Light heavy
- Under threat: Bivol .’s WBA title
- Ranking in British Pounds: Not available
- The odds: Bivol 13½-1 favorite (multi-store average)
- Also on the card: Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, junior middleweight; Eduard Skavynskyi vs TBA, welterweight division; Ruslan Kamilov vs. Dmitrii Khasiev, lightweight; Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov vs. Rilwan Oladosu, junior lightweight; Artysh Lopsan vs. Ramil Gadzhyiev, super middleweight
- Guess: Bivol KO 10
- Background: Bivol, arguably the world’s best 175-pound athlete, will defend his second WBA title (eighth if you count the WBA “regular” title) against Umar Salamov. The champion, a boxer from Russia, beat Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr. to assert itself as a force in the tournament. He is on the verge of a decisive victory closer than expected against Craig Richards in May. Bivol has been out of the ring for 19 months. Salamov, a Russian living in Las Vegas, has won seven straight matches since he lost a narrow decision to Damien Hooper in 2017 in Hooper’s hometown of Australia. He last went to war in April, when he defeated Sergei Ekimov by a split decision in Russia.
