Dmitry Bivol will defend his WBA light heavyweight title vs. Libya’s Malik Zinad on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following Artur Beterbiev’s withdrawal. Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) steps in to replace Beterbiev, who will undergo knee surgery to repair a ruptured meniscus. Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) hopes to be ready to resume training by September, and there’s hope the undisputed light heavyweight championship fight vs. Bivol will be rescheduled later this year. Zinad will be challenging for his first world title. The 30-year-old scored a victory over Jerome Pampellone last week in Sydney Australia.
Artur Beterbiev ruptured his meniscus in training. The plan is to keep the card on and replace Beterbiev with Malik Zinad (current choice). Bivol vs Zinad won’t be the show’s main event. The event will now be headlined by Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang.
What do you guys think? pic.twitter.com/AnXiy0piPl
— Boxing Decades (@BoxingDecades) May 6, 2024
Fallout
Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang is the new main event, per Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority. This fight is very important for Wilder. In order for Wilder to proceed onto his planned Aug. 3 bout with Jared Anderson in Los Angeles, he has to win in impressive fashion. But we’ll see how things shake out with his fight with Zhang. Remember that we’re here with Wilder vs. Zhang because Wilder didn’t uphold his end of the bargain by losing to Joseph Parker while Anthony Joshua won his bout Otto Wallin.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
