Eddie Hearn considers the WBC’s decision to force Dmitry Bivol to vacate their light-heavyweight title to be “strange”. 

The 34-year-old Bivol won the undisputed title when in February, in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev, he was awarded a majority decision. 

That he had lost to his fellow Russian via majority decision, in a similarly competitive and entertaining contest, four months previously has contributed to a decisive third fight for them being widely in demand. 

If, as expected, it does take place, however, it will not again be for the undisputed 175lbs title. Bivol vacated the WBC title because of those plans when their preference was for him to fight David Benavidez, who has since been elevated from the status of their interim titlist to WBC champion.

It was earlier in February that Benavidez earned a majority decision over David Morrell of Cuba. Yet it was only in June 2024 that he moved up to light heavyweight – he defeated Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk – after a considerably lengthier period as the mandatory challenger to the WBC super-middleweight title held by the celebrated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who was neither stripped of his status by the same organisation nor placed under any pressure to fight the opponent who represented his biggest threat at 168lbs. 

That inconsistency was what Matchroom’s Hearn – who continues to promote Bivol and previously promoted Alvarez, including while he remained the undisputed champion at 168lbs despite moving up in weight to fight Bivol – was referring to when he told BoxingScene: “It’s a bit strange. When you first win the title normally you get a little bit of grace. It wasn’t like going into that fight, ‘By the way, the winner must fight Benavidez’. 

“He won his fight, and then they put the mandatory straight on Dmitry. ‘We have a contract to fight Beterbiev, so we can’t do that.’ ‘Oh, well we’re gonna call purse bids.’ Fucking hell – alright. Then it’s like, ‘He’s been offered $8m – he’s not taking it’. You can’t put that information out…

“I don’t know whether the WBC were under pressure because of the situation with ‘Canelo’, where Benavidez had to wait a long time. But I would have expected the governing body to say, ‘Fair enough – it’s the biggest fight in boxing. It’s the trilogy. We’ll allow it. But the winner has to fight Benavidez’.”

Asked if the WBC’s actions were self-defeating, Hearn responded: “Probably. I get it – as a governing body, you do have to give people opportunities to fight for the belt. But he’s just won that fight with Morrell – it’s not like he’s been waiting for two years. 

“It’s the mystery of boxing [that Alvarez wasn’t treated the same as Bivol].”

Callum Smith, another of Matchroom’s light heavyweights, is, according to Hearn, on course to be the 28-year-old Benavidez’s first challenger in the coming months, in Las Vegas. 

Smith, 34, convincingly defeated Joshua Buatsi on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol II. Benavidez is also the WBA’s lightly regarded “world” champion; Bivol – the WBA’s actions are perhaps similarly self-defeating – is their “super” champion.

“We’re just talking,” said Hearn. “We’re having good conversations with Luis DeCubas [who works with Benavidez]. I think it’s a fight that we can make happen – it’s one of the better fights in the light-heavyweight division. 

“Benavidez is coming off the best win of his career; so’s Callum Smith. That fight against Buatsi was incredible. Let’s make it happen – end of the summer, probably in Las Vegas.”