Arthur looking to become the first man to beat Bivol in the ring (Picture: Getty)
Lyndon Arthur must find a way to solve one of the most complex puzzles in boxing in his bid to dethrone world champion Dmitry Bivol in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
As part of the stacked card headlined by Anthony Joshua vs Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker, Arthur is seeking to bring the WBA light-heavyweight championship back home to Manchester by dethroning the undefeated Russian.
He will be playing the underdog role again, one he played to perfection in 2020 against Anthony Yarde when he nullified and frustrated the east Londoner to secure the biggest win of his career to date.
Yarde would avenge that defeat 12 months later but since then, Arthur has racked up four straight wins, collecting the IBO title in October after climbing off the canvas to knock out Braian Suarez in the 10th round.
Fighting out of Collyhurst and Moston ABC in north Manchester, the 32-year-old will be a long way from home on Saturday night against the backdrop of Saudi riches where no expense has been spared in assembling one of the sport’s biggest shows in recent memory.
Bivol is perhaps more familiar with such surroundings. In May 2022, he became only the second man after the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr to beat Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, then the undisputed pound-for-pound no1 in boxing, with a masterful performance in Las Vegas. He followed that up by soundly outpointing the previously undefeated Gilberto Ramirez in Abu Dhabi six months later.
Bivol himself is in the picture for one of boxing’s other sought-after undisputed fights against IBF, WBC and WBO king Arthur Beterbiev, the fearsome knockout artist who defends his belts against Callum Smith in January.
Bivol became just the second man to beat Canelo (Picture: Getty)
Like many competing on the card in Saudi, Arthur is out to wreck plans for 2024.
‘I am a huge fan of Dmitry Bivol, I have watched him over the years and understand completely what I am coming up against,’ he told Metro.co.uk. ‘But I have to go in and upset the plans.
‘You can’t really take anything from previous opponents. This is the elite. We are talking about the man who beat Canelo and beat him quite comfortably. There is nothing you can take lightly at all.
Arthur shared two battles with Anthony Yarde (Picture: Getty)
‘People like this are up there with people like Mayweather and names like that. They have a year off and come back and put on a boxing clinic. These kind of men can do that to you.’
Arthur is among the cluster of British fighters operating at or on the brink of world title level in the light-heavyweight division. Callum Smith will have his chance next month. His old foe Yarde has been there twice, beaten on both occasions in memorable scraps against Sergey Kovalev and Beterbiev.
Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez will meet in their rescheduled London derby in February with the winner earning a crack at Bivol’s WBA belt. Arthur can see himself mixing it up with any of those names with world title gold in the equation.
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‘This division is booming now,’ Arthur said. ‘There are a lot of fights to be made, lot of money to be made. ‘It can only be exciting, for the future of my division and boxing.’
Trying to pick holes in Bivol, one of the sport’s most imperious operators is a tall order. But Arthur has shown he can find solutions on the biggest stages. Under the guidance of his long-time trainer and cousin Pat Barrett, they have devised the gameplan focusing on their strengths rather than the other man’s perceived weaknesses.
‘I can’t focus on what he might do wrong, it has to be about what I do right,’ he added. ‘I have got a good team behind me, we have worked so hard for this and now it’s all about carrying it all out on that big stage. Bringing that belt back to Manchester would be surreal but I am excited to do it.’
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Bivol vs Arthur is part of the huge Day of Reckoning card in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.