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Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) will defend his WBA light heavyweight belt against a new opponent, little-known IBF No. 14 Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) on June 1 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. , Saudi Arabia.
Zinad: a questionable choice
30-year-old Libai native Zinad will replace injured IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev as Bivol's opponent for the June 1 bout. Bivol vs. Beterbiev has been rescheduled for later this year or 2025.
It is unclear whether HE Turki Alalshih chose the most obscure fighter Malik Zinad as Bivol's opponent, as it is an unusual choice considering the guy has never fought any notable top-level opponent in his nine-year professional career. in obscurity.
Considering this is a PPV card on DAZN, using Zinad to replace Beterbiev as Bivol's opponent is not a good deal for the boxing fans who will be booking this event. There are countless contenders at 175 and 168 pounds who would jump at the chance to challenge Bivol for the WBA belt, one of them being David Morrell.
Bivol vs. Zinad is a mismatch, not worthy of a pay-per-view and definitely not the best fight on the main card. It won't be competitive. We already saw Bivol's inconsistency in his last fight against British fighter Lyndon Arthur, and it was far from entertaining to watch.
It would be better for boxing fans if a proven and well-known opponent was chosen to fight Bivol, rather than Zinad. This will be a huge step up in class for Zinad, going from fighting a no-name opponent to beating one of the best fighters in the 175lb division at Bivol.
Shuffling of battle cards is possible
It remains to be seen whether Bivol will still fight in the June 1 main event. Obviously, given Beterbiev's absence and the use of fringe contender Zinad as his replacement, this is not an ideal fight to headline the June 1 card.
It would be better for fans to move the Bivol vs. Zinad fight to the undercard as part of the preliminary part of the card. There are too many better fights on the June 1st card than Bivol-Zinad and there is no interest in this fight at all.
The fight I would like to see in the main event is a heavyweight bout between former WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. This is a much better fight. Also on the undercard there will be Queensberry – Matchroom 5v5 fights.
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