The $20 Million Roadblock<\/strong><\/h2>\nBenavidez believes his win over Zurdo forces the difficulty, but he\u2019s overlooking the financial gravity of the Bivol-Beterbiev rivalry. Bivol has already pocketed roughly $20 million across his last two fights with Artur Beterbiev.<\/p>\n
For Bivol, the risk-reward ratio of fighting Benavidez without delay makes zero sense. A 3rd fight with Beterbiev is a guaranteed atmospheric payday, likely one other $10 million+ check.<\/p>\n
If Bivol fights Benavidez and loses, the interest and the huge purse for a Beterbiev trilogy evaporate immediately.<\/p>\n
Bivol already easily beat Zurdo Ramirez years ago. In Bivol\u2019s mind, Benavidez just cleared a hurdle Bivol jumped in 2022, but he didn\u2019t break latest ground.<\/p>\n
A Division in a Holding Pattern<\/strong><\/p>\nBenavidez is speaking as if Bivol is a goal in a vacuum. In point of fact, the 35-year-old champion is managed by a strict calendar.<\/p>\n
Bivol must face Michael Eifert on May 30 to maintain his IBF strap. He\u2019s coming off major back surgery for a herniated disc. At 35, the bounce-back time isn\u2019t what it was once.<\/p>\n
By the point Benavidez could realistically get Bivol within the ring, likely 2027, he\u2019ll be fighting a 36-year-old veteran with a surgically repaired back and the damage and tear of a Beterbiev trilogy.<\/p>\n
Benavidez\u2019s pressure and volume are elite, but his biggest weapon without delay may be time. He’s aiming at the best name, however the version of Bivol he eventually meets might be a shell of the present undisputed king.<\/p>\n
Beating a reputation is one thing. Beating the prime version of that name is one other. Benavidez is betting his legacy on a timeline that Bivol, the sanctioning bodies, and the Saudi financiers have little interest in accelerating.<\/p>\n
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Tom Reynolds<\/strong> is a boxing analyst covering major fights and profession turning points, with a give attention to performance, trajectory, and long-term implications.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cAfter I beat Bivol, I\u2019m going to be the primary pound-for-pound fighter on the earth,\u201d said Benavidez to Ariel Helwani. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely going to have to return see me after this fight [Michael Eifert]. All those belts are leaving with David Benavidez.\u201d The $20 Million Roadblock Benavidez believes his win over Zurdo forces the difficulty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[13750,17031,13793,658],"class_list":["post-329956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bivol","tag-dmitry","tag-p4p","tag-win"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329956"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329959,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329956\/revisions\/329959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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