Beterbiev injury forces postponement of title bout with Bivol

The undisputed light heavyweight championship bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in Saudi Arabia has been postponed after Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus in training, promoters Top Rank Boxing said on Friday.

The bout, scheduled for 1 June in Riyadh, was set to unify Russian-born Canadian Beterbiev's WBC, IBF and WBO belts with his Russian rival's WBA championship.

"The plan is to reschedule Beterbiev-Bivol before the end of the year, and additional details will be provided in due course," Top Rank Boxing said in a statement.

In a post on X, Saudi entertainment head and organiser Turki Alalshikh said the event would still go ahead, with former WBC champion Deontay Wilder taking on Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang on the undercard.