Dmitriy Bivol has slammed the WBC’s decision to ban Russian fighters from fighting for their titles, describing it as “unfair.”
The WBC have elected not to sanction title fights featuring fighters from both Russia and Belarus or include them in their rankings, due to the involvement of those countries in the conflict in Ukraine.
This means Bivol would not be able to win the WBC version of the world title in a potential undisputed light heavyweight fight against Artur Beterbiev.
Bivol aired his frustrations in a recent interview with SecondsOut, imploring the WBC not to “mix politics and sport.”
“Of course it’s not fair. How can someone say they are the champion of the world, if someone from a certain country can’t fight for your belt, and this guy could be better than you?”
“I don’t want to say “Oh let me fight Beterbiev, because I haven’t spent too much time in Russia.” To be honest, I spent four months of last year in Russia, and the rest of the time all over the world. But this is not the reason I should be allowed to fight him.”
“The reason is, don’t mix politics and sport. All my life, I only watch sports news. I’m an athlete, not a politician.”
Though Beterbiev was also born in Russia, he has lived in Canada for the past fifteen years and holds Canadian citizenship and thus received an exemption from the sanctions from the WBC.
It is currently unclear what Bivol’s next move will now be, given that a rematch with Canelo Alvarez looks to also be off the table.