“The Savage will get his shot at the WBC gold.”
Alen Babic is one of the most consistently exciting heavyweights out there today, but is “The Savage,” as the unbeaten Croatian is known, really a heavyweight? All-action and all fire, the knock on Babic is his size, or lack thereof. Babic would simply not be able to cope against the monster heavyweights the thinking goes, therefore he would fail in his bid to win a world title.
The answer is a drop down in weight, not to cruiserweight, but to the recently created bridgerweight division. The weight division that was the brainchild of the WBC (with no other organisation following suit as of yet) has Oscar Rivas as its world champ, and Babic wants a shot at the once-beaten Candian. Speaking today on his Matchroom stream, Eddie Hearn said this fight will “ultimately be ordered by the WBC,” and that he is “speaking with Yvon Michelle (promoter of Rivas) about a date.”
This one will be a whole lot of fun when it happens, make no mistake about that. We know what we will get from 31 year old Babic, and that’s a right out of the blocks start, with the shaven-headed warrior looking to land as much leather as fast and as consistently as he can. Currently 11-0(10) Babic has become a cult fan favourite and he has given us some excellent slugfests.
35 year old Rivas, 28-1(19) – with the sole loss coming on points to Dillian Whyte – won the bridgerweight belt back in October of last year and he has yet to make his maiden defence. Like Babic, Rivas is no massive heavyweight and these two should match up well; even if some fans feel Rivas is a better overall fighter than the wonderfully raw Babic.
Babic last fought in May of this year, when he pounded out a decision win over a game Adam Balski, Babic’s sole distance fight proving dramatic, with both men hurt. Let’s hope Rivas-Babic is indeed ordered by the WBC and soon. There are not too many fighters currently operating at bridgerweight, yet these two fighters can give the fledgling weight division something to cheer about.
Who wins if/when Rivas and Babic do rumble?