Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol Main Event Will Stream Live on ESPN+

On October 12, one of the year’s most anticipated fights will be available on ESPN+ for those who reside in the U.S., as it will not be part of the Riyadh Season PPV event that leads into the main event. Top Rank officially announced that the fight between unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) will be streamed on ESPN+ giving some relief for fans who have been paying for an average of two pay per views a month for the majority of the year.

In a press release by Top Rank, Bob Arum commented about this extraordinary fight, at least on paper, coming to ESPN+ versus part of the Riyadh Season PPV.

“The epic matchup has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait until these two legends of the ring meet,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “I am thrilled that American fans can view the fight on ESPN+, a tremendous platform that consistently shows the biggest and best bouts.”

The fight between Beterbiev and Bivol was initially scheduled for June 1, but Beterbiev suffered a reported “ruptured meniscus” while in training camp, which forced him to delay the fight. The good thing is that they were able to keep the fight alive and reschedule it without being forced into making a mandatory defense by one of the sanctioning bodies.

Beterbiev from Khasavyurt, Russia, has fought only once a year since 2022, and if he can make it to fight night on October 12, that will be the first time since 2021 that he has more than one fight in a calendar year. At 39, one has to think that the inactivity is beginning to catch up to Beterbiev’s body, as he has shown some of the most intense workouts you will see a fighter go through during training camp. But those workouts have led to multiple injuries, which has kept him inactive.

Bivol from Tokmak, Krygyzstan, hasn’t been as bad as Beterbiev, but he fought only once last year and only three times since beating boxing’s biggest star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in May 2022. Bivol stayed on the June 1 card and defeated Malik Zinad in six rounds. Bivol has been waiting for this moment for a long time, and we are a little over a month away from finally getting the matchup we have all been waiting for. It’s a good thing for us in the U.S. it’ll be on ESPN+, so fans can still purchase the PPV to see Shakur Stevenson and others in action or just watch the main event on ESPN+.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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