When Will Dimitriy Bivol Get His Respect?

When will WBO, IBF, IBO, and WBC World Light Heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol get the respect he deserves?

In September, WBO Interim Super Welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford defeated IBF, WBO, and WBC Super Middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 63-2-2 and is being considered pound for pound the best by some. The same Alvarez, 57-1-2, was defeated by Bivol in May of 2022, and then Bivol defeated Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, 44-0, in November.

In 2023, Bivol defeated IBO champion Lyndon ‘King Arthur’ Arthur, 23-1. In 2024, he defeated Malik Zinad, 22-0. Later that year, he lost for the first time in a unification bout to Artur Beterbiev, 20-0, by majority decision. In February of 2025, he won the rematch, defeating Beterbiev. He has been trying to have a third fight with Beterbiev with no luck so far. Possibly two opponents, such as WBC Light heavyweight champion David Benavidez, 33-0, now saying he will not return to super middleweight, will be next.

He was 268-15 in the amateur ranks, fighting his last four fights in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Born in Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan, in 1990, and having lived in Indio, California, when will he get the respect he deserves?

Another is WBC, WBO, IBF, and IBO Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, 24-0 with 15 stoppages. The former cruiserweight champion gets little respect.

“175 for Bivol. He’s been there for a long time. Now with the back surgery, I don’t think he wants to risk. I think that’s going to make it a little harder for him to do the weight,” said trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. to YSM Sports Media about his belief that Bivol will move up to cruiserweight.

“I’m thinking he’s comfortable at cruiserweight, and maybe doing something else. He’s got the height, and he’s strong. Maybe that could be the thing because of the surgery. He wants to get healed well and not force his body to lose all that weight,” said Benavidez Sr. about Bivol.