On Saturday, Dmitry Bivol will end a year-long hiatus from the ring when he puts his WBA light heavyweight title on the line against Lyndon Arthur as part of the mega event called “Day of Reckoning” at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bivol, The Ring’s No. 1-rated light heavyweight, had hoped to face boxing biggest star Canelo Alvarez in a rematch earlier this year, but saw those plans cancelled and was not able to secure anything in the interim until he was presented with the opportunity to face Arthur.

“This is a good fight for me, for this year,” Bivol (21-0, 11 knockouts) told The Ring through his manager Vadim Kornilov. “I am motivated because he is a good boxer with a great record, and he holds the IBO world title. [Editors Note: The Ring doesn’t recognize the IBO.]

“I believe in my skills and I just have to do what I always do to win this fight. I have to be prepared physically and mentally.”

While some would have found the extended period on the sidelines difficult, it’s not how the Kyrgyzstan-born titleholder sees things.

“I would not call this a frustrating period. I took some much needed time off to take care of many things that I haven’t had time to attend to as I had a very busy schedule previously,” he explained. “I was always training still, but any boxer has a life outside of the ring, and sometimes taking some time off and just taking care of your body and clearing your mind is very beneficial.

“Everything has its place and time, and this year has laid out just the way it did for a reason. I feel more motivated now and hungry to train than before.”

Bivol, who has made ten successful defenses of his WBA title, most recently fought Gilberto Ramirez (UD 12) putting on a clinic in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in November 2022.

And he was also back in the Middle East a couple of months ago for the opening of Riyadh Season, when he attended Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou.

“Saudi Arabia impressed me very much when we arrived in October,” he said. “The people here are very supportive of the sport of boxing and I believe that currently there is a great future for the sport here.”

Kornilov also welcomes the emergence of the Middle East as a power-player in boxing.

“To be honest with the love for the sport of boxing and the ambitions of his Excellency Turki Alalshikh and all of Saudi Arabia, the industry is seeing a new chapter which is going to go in history as a ‘Golden Era,” said Kornilov, who also manages touted heavyweight Bakhodir Jalalov, former unified junior featherweight titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev and several other noteworthy fighters. “I have been in boxing almost all of my life, and I am very excited to see all these fights that are about to happen next year in Saudi Arabia.”

During that visit, Bivol crossed paths with IBF, WBC and WBO rival Artur Beterbiev for the first time. The collision is on tap if Bivol can beat Arthur and Beterbiev can take care of business in a difficult looking showdown with Callum Smith on January 13.

“As far as I see it this fight is to finally happen next year,” said Bivol. “I look forward to it!”

Kornilov says that is their clear intentions if things work out in the next couple of weeks.

“I have always said that Dmitriy’s goal is to become undisputed world champion, but the only obstacle was for the fight to mature enough that someone would have serious interest in financially supporting it,” he explained. “Right now, we have a fight with Lyndon Arthur coming up on December 23rd which we cannot overlook, and we are highly focused on this fight.

“At the same time I can say that we already agreed and committed to fighting Artur Beterbiev in the first half of next year, and as I have always said, Dmitrii always wanted this fight.”

Bivol-Arthur pits two classic boxers against one another. I expect a cat and mouse game early with neither overcommitting. However, I see Bivol taking control in the second half and winning a 12-round unanimous decision.

Arthur (23-1, 16 knockouts) turned professional in 2016. He won the commonwealth title on the way up and edged past domestic rival Anthony Yarde (SD 12). However, the 32-year-old Manchester-born fighter was knocked out in four rounds in the rematch.

Since then, he has returned with four wins, most recently, getting off the canvas to score a knockout against Braian Suarez (KO 10).

The bonanza event, featuring Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker, Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin and several other intriguing matchups, will be televised on DAZN at 2 p.m. ET/ 11 a.m. PT and 7 p.m. GMT

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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