Bivol and Betebiev are not available for trilogy fight? When is Benavidez fighting Zurdo?

Welcome back to Combat Sports Insider.

We already know that Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol have fought twice in the boxing ring to find out who's the best between them. Both times, they fought for the undisputed light heavyweight championship. We already know Beterbiev edged out the first fight and Bivol edged out the second.

To get into the specifics, the very first fight took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 2024. Artur Beterbiev won by majority decision, becoming the first undisputed light heavyweight champion in over 22 years. The fight was very close, marking Dmitry Bivol's first professional loss.

Fast forward, and the rematch happened fast, with just a four-month gap. This time, Bivol evened the score by defeating Beterbiev, also by majority decision. Once again, the fight took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Bivol became the undisputed champion, handing Beterbiev his first professional loss.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk about a trilogy fight, but rumor has it that neither of them has been able to make it happen. Bivol has had an injury according to his manager and public reports. So the reality is this. Even though both of them are interested in the trilogy, there have been problems. At first, Beterbiev was looking to come back against Nicholson, but they couldn't reach terms, and then Beterbiev pulled out of that as well. Beterbiev is already 41 years old and has had several knee surgeries. He hasn't looked the same as he did three or four years ago. A lot of people actually think Bivol got a version of Beterbiev that wasn't at his best.

However, even though both fights were close, Bivol is nowhere to be seen right now. The reason people tend not to credit Bivol for that second win fully is that they keep bringing up stats and pointing out that Beterbiev is already old, and that the rematch win doesn't carry as much weight because of that. And now, with Bivol dealing with injuries, he's unable to defend the undisputed title against Beterbiev anymore.
In the meantime, the IBF has ordered Bivol to face mandatory challenger Michael Eifert in a title defense. But we don't even know how that situation plays out until Bivol actually steps into the ring and we see where he's at. By the time all this gets sorted out, Beterbiev will be 42. Bivol may not even be back for another 4 or 5 months. That puts the whole trilogy conversation even further in the back seat.

This also puts the whole Benavidez situation into context. We already know how heavily that fight with Zurdo is being promoted. Both of them will fight on May 2nd, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. PBC is pushing this event on Prime Video, and this will be the first time Benavidez moves up to 200 pounds. Zurdo Ramirez has only one loss on his record. The fight is happening on Cinco de Mayo weekend as part of a PBC pay-per-view, with the WBA and WBO championships on the line. Benavidez is undefeated and is looking to become a champion in a third weight class.

So that adds another layer to everything because Benavidez won't be available for a while after that fight either. That leaves Beterbiev as the only active name in the division if he chooses to fight. But we genuinely don't know what's going to happen next.

That's where the light heavyweight division stands right now.

Three of the division's biggest names are all fighting different opponents and never fighting each other. We'll have to wait and see.

Let us know your thoughts on this!