Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol II: Feb. 22 Riyadh Season Card Takes Shape

The Riyadh Season cards from His Excellency Turki Alalshikh have impressed with the depth of the events. We have seen many memorable matchups with the rumoured Feb. 22 card looking stacked and arguably one of the most impressive cards. Dan Rafael has revealed via his Fight Freaks Unite Substack that there are five evenly matched bouts set for the card.

February 22 Riyadh Season: Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol Rematch

Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker

According to Rafael, the stacked Feb. 22 card will be headlined by Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) vs. Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs). Many have spoken about a potential rematch between Anthony Joshua and Dubois, but no one can begrudge Parker the opportunity. His two most recent wins against Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang have brought him to the verge of this IBF title shot.

Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol II

Rafael also reveals via sources that a rematch between Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) has been agreed for Feb. 22. Their original meeting was a fascinating contest that captured the imagination of the boxing world with Beterbiev winning by majority decision, with the judges scorecards reading 114-114, and the other two cards favouring Beterbiev 116-112 and 115-113. That historic win crowned him the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era in the light heavyweight division. Despite Michael Eifert being made mandatory to the IBF crown, Rafael has revealed that he has accepted a six-figure deal to step aside and allow the rematch.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Jaron Ennis

Golden Boy president Eric Gomez recently spoke to Rafael about negotiations for the Jaron Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs)-Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) bout: “We started preliminary talks for a fight with ‘Boots’ Ennis,” Gomez said. “Vergil wants that fight. He’s willing to do it, so we’ve started talks and we’ll know in the next couple of weeks whether we can get it done or not.” This fight on paper looks like it will guarantee fireworks. Ortiz was last seen against Serhii Bohachuk in a back-and-forth action-packed fight. “Boots” was recently in action, defeating Karen Chukhadzhian.

Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz

Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) has been in talks to face the unified WBO/IBF title holder Janibek Alimkhanuly before withdrawing from a scheduled purse bid. Sheeraz is the WBC’s No. 1 middleweight contender and is now set to face Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KOs), and Rafael reports that both camps have agreed to terms for the fight. Adames is a dangerous fighter who carries plenty of power, making it vital that Sheeraz controls the distance with his reach advantage. The dangerous Dominican fighter won the WBC crown from Terrell Gausha. Sheeraz destroyed Tyler Denny last time out extending his incredible run of knockouts to 15 fights.

Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel

Two of the most dangerous heavyweights look set to fight on Feb. 22 with Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) set to face Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs). Zhang rose to prominence after back-to-back wins against Joe Joyce. Since then he lost to Joseph Parker, before beating Deontay Wilder on the Matchroom-Queensberry 5v5 card. Kabayel has also enjoyed success on the Riyadh Season cards, stopping Arslanbek Makhmudov, which led to an impressive win against  Frank Sanchez on the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk undercard.