Via Allan Fox: Matchroom Boxing announced today that Dmitry Bivol will next defend his WBA light heavyweight title against little-known opponent Umar Salamov on December 11 at KRK “Uralets,” Ekaterinburg, Russia.
6’3 1/2 ″ Salamov (26-1, 19 KOs) is ranked 3rd at the WBO, but he has never played against any senior opponent before during his nine-year professional career. me.
Salamov’s most notable opponents were these boxers: Doudou Ngumbu, Bob Ajisafe, Brian Howard, Norbert Nemesapati and Norbert Dabrowski.
Salamov = no notable wins on his résumé
None of those people are rival fighters, and that’s why it’s hard to understand why Salamov is ranked in the top 15 at 175. In 2017, Salamov lost to lesser-known Australian Damien Hooper. age equal to a 10-round unanimous match.
For some reason, Salamov didn’t fight Hooper in a rematch to avenge the loss. It was a red flag that Salamov didn’t rematch Hooper, but it was bad enough to lose him in the first place.
Hooper wasn’t a top boxer at the time, and it looks like he’s no longer active with his career.
Bivol vs. Salamov will most likely be shown on DAZN, which is good news for boxing fans interested in the 175-lb WBA champion’s career.
Дмитрий @bivol_d – ар аламов
11 абря атеринбург pic.twitter.com/LJZXAmnQ3u– World boxing advertising agency (@worldofbox) November 22, 2021
Salamov, 27, had been scheduled to challenge WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr for the title, but that fight fell through, so now he’s ready to take on Bivol for your belt.
Bivol in the lottery Canelo
Bivol-Salamov makes sense in a couple of ways: First of all, it ensures that Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs) is not beaten before he has a chance to defend against superstar Canelo Alvarez in 2022 or 2022. .
The amount that Bivol can make fighting Canelo will be in the millions, as we saw in the Mexican star’s recent battles with Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders.
Canelo turned those ordinary boxers into millionaires by fighting them. In that case, Bivol must stay on course as a 175-lb WBA champion for as long as possible until Canelo takes on him in 2022 or 2023.
Second, Bivol looked terrible in his final title defense against Craig Richards last May, looking timid, gunfire and defeated by a little-known British domestic fighter.
Bivol was lucky to win the fight, as Richards played harder and beat him from the fourth inning onwards. Given the way Bivol fought Richards, it was too risky for the Russian champion to take on one of the strong contenders at 175 lb, as he would likely lose.
These are the gladiators that Bivol needs to avoid at all costs to keep his spot for the Canelo lottery:
- Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez
- Joshua Buatsi
- Maxim Vlasov
- Lyndon Arthur
- Callum Johnson
- Anthony Yarde
- Badou Jack
While there’s a chance Bivol could beat most of those fighters, it’s still too risky for him to face any of them while he waits for big payday to go up against Canelo.
Undefeated former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez (42-0, 28 KOs) has been pretty harsh about winning a title against Bivil, and some boxing fans believe the Russian boxer is avoiding him.
Ramirez would be a much better choice for Bivol against if he wants to build the fight against Canelo into a major US fight
Of course, given Bivol’s look at Craig Richards, his chances of beating Ramirez are pretty low.
The same goes for Bivol if he has to defend against Joshua Buatsi or Maxim Vlasov. As far as this writer knows, these are excellent fighters who are competing at a higher level than Bivol right now.
If Bivol can fight against Canelo, we could be talking about him potentially getting a day’s salary from $6 million up to $10 million for that match.
That’s a ton of money for a fight, which is why Bivol needs to take any risks until Canelo’s payday is received.
