Dmitry Bivol will defend his WBA lightweight title against his replacement, little-known IBF Malik Zinad, on June 1 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zinad, a 30-year-old Libyan native, replaced injured IBF-WBC-WBO lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev as Bivol's opponent in the June 1 match.
Bivol vs Beterbiev has been postponed until later this year or 2025.
It’s unclear whether His Excellency Turki Alalshikh chose the obscure fighter Malik Zinad himself as the opponent for Bivol, as it’s an unusual choice, given that this guy has never fought any notable top-tier opposition during his nine-year professional career and has been fighting in obscurity.
Since this is a PPV card on DAZN, using Zinad to replace Beterbiev as Bivol's opponent is not a good idea for the boxing fans who will headline the event.
There are countless contenders at 175 and 168 who would jump at the chance to challenge Bivol for his WBA title, one of them being David Morrell.
Bivol vs Zinad was a mismatch, not worthy of a pay-per-view and certainly not a good fight for the main part of the card.
It won't be competitive.
We saw Bivol draw in his last fight against British boxer Lyndon Arthur, and it wasn't fun to watch.
It would be better for boxing fans if a famous and proven opponent were chosen for Bivol to fight instead of Zinad.
This would be a huge step up in class for Zinad, going from fighting unknown opponents to becoming one of the best fighters in the 175-pound division in Bivol.
It is unknown whether Bivol will still be in the main event on June 1.
Obviously, with Beterbiev out and fringe opponent Zinad used to replace him, this is not an ideal fight for the June 1 ticket.
It would be better for fans to move the Bivol vs Zinad fight to the undercard as part of the preliminary portion of the card. There are too many better fights on the June 1st card than Bivol-Zinad, and there’s no interest in this fight at all.
One fight I would like to see included in the main event is the heavyweight bout between former WBC champion Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
It was a much better fight.
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