Turki Alalshikh May Be Only Path to David Benavidez-Dmitry Bivol Fight

Report says negotiations “not going very well” as figures remain unresolved

Negotiations for a fight between David Benavidez and Dmitry Bivol are not progressing, according to a report from Fernando Sabatini. The talks are said to be affected by purse demands.

Boxing insider Fernando Sabatini reported Thursday that Bivol also turned down an offer from Russian organizers last November for a third fight against Artur Beterbiev, adding another layer to the growing questions about whether the undisputed light heavyweight champion is pricing himself out of major fights.

“According to what I was told, Bivol also didn’t accept the figure that the Russians offered him last November to face Beterbiev,” Sabatini posted on X. “Taking all this into account, only Turki could make it happen, but his interest would be focused on doing Benavidez vs. Usyk.”

Earlier Thursday, Sabatini reported that negotiations between Benavidez and Bivol were “not going very well” because of the purse demands being made by Bivol’s side. Sabatini’s English translation mistakenly called it a super middleweight unification, but the original Spanish version correctly referred to light heavyweight.

That detail is important because Benavidez already holds the WBC light heavyweight title after moving up from 168, while Bivol controls the WBA, WBO, IBF, and Ring Magazine belts at 175.

The interesting part of Sabatini’s follow-up post was the mention of Oleksandr Usyk. Benavidez has already talked publicly about eventually moving to heavyweight, but most fans expected him to stay at 175 long enough to pursue Bivol and possibly Artur Beterbiev first.

If Turki’s attention has shifted toward a Benavidez-Usyk fight instead, it could leave the light heavyweight division stuck waiting again while Bivol’s future remains unclear. Beterbiev has already spent over a year waiting for a trilogy fight, and now Benavidez may be running into the same problem.

Bivol’s side may believe his position as the undisputed champion gives him the right to ask for premium money, especially after beating Beterbiev twice. The issue is whether promoters outside of Turki are willing to meet those demands for fights that are expensive but not guaranteed commercial blockbusters on their own.

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