Artur Beterbiev suffers torn meniscus, undisputed light heavyweight title fight against Dmitry Bivol postponed

Artur Beterbiev's undisputed light heavyweight title fight against Dmitry Bivol, which was supposed to go down on June 1st at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, has now been postponed owing to a meniscus injury on Beterbiev's end.

The Russian-born Canadian is set to undergo knee surgery, which is expected to keep him sidelined till September.

Thankfully, however, it looks like fans will still get to see Bivol fight in June. According to a report by ESPN, Saudi adviser and the current chairman of General Entertainment Authority Turki Alalshikh has confirmed that a replacement opponent is being sought for the 33-year-old Russian.

The rematch with Beterbiev, however, hasn't been scrapped. It is expected to go down later this year, likely in the last quarter of 2024.

Furthermore, the undercard for the June 1 event also features some electrifying matchups, including Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang and Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois.

However, the undisputed light heavyweight matchup was the most anticipated fight on the card, especially since both Bivol (22-0) and Beterbiev (20-0) are yet to be bested in their respective pugilistic careers.

Bivol holds the IBO and WBA light heavyweight titles, while his counterpart possesses the WBC, IBF, and WBO belts.

Most notably, the WBA title holder holds a win against the legendary Canelo Alvarez. When Bivol met the Mexican at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in 2022, he out-boxed Alvarez for the entirety of the fight as he cruised to a unanimous decision win.

Meanwhile, Beterbiev is one of the greatest knockout artists in the division. He boasts a 100 percent finish rate and most recently earned a seventh-round TKO over former WBA and WBC super-middleweight champion Callum Smith.

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Boxing legend picks Dmitry Bivol over Artur Beterbiev

While the fight world will still have to wait for a few months to see Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev, boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. has already decided who his favorite for the fight is.

Talking to Boxing Social in the lead-up to the now postponed undisputed clash, the former undisputed light-heavyweight champion stated:

"[The fight is] not 50-50. One Beterbiev is 38 years old. Artur Beterbiev has been down. Bivol has never been down. Bivol was in there with who at the time was the pound-for-pound best, Canelo Alvarez [and] made him look like nothing. So I'm not saying it's 50-50. Beterbiev has got everything to show me to bring it back to 50-50. Right now Bivol has the advantage [at] 60-40."

Catch Roy Jones Jr.'s prediction for Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev below: