Fresh from his dominant title defence in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night, Dmitry Bivol has set sights on becoming undisputed champion.
The undefeated Russian, 31, outclassed Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez at Etihad Arena, headlining the inaugural “Champion Series” event in the capital by retaining his WBA light-heavyweight crown by unanimous decision.
Bivol, whose slick footwork and expert counterpunching rendered redundant the previously unbeaten Ramirez, took the contest 118-110, 117-111, 117-111. The win, the 10th defence of the WBA title, lifted Bivol’s professional record to 21-0, while Ramirez now sits at 44-1.
With Ramirez dispatched emphatically, Bivol is expected to next either rematch Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – he defeated the Mexican superstar in May – or face WBC, WBO and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev for a shot at becoming the unrivalled lead boxer at 175 lbs.
"I proved myself, I can be the best guy in the world," Bivol said afterwards. “I have a goal; I want to be undisputed champion. But it doesn't all depend on me. If it all depends on me, I fight for all four belts.
“I hope they are listening to me, to what I want. I'm like a kid who has a dream; I want to go with this dream."
Asked if he was concerned about facing Beterbiev, since the Russia has knocked out all 18 opponents and thus has an aura, as the reporter put it, of a “monster”, Bivol responded: “You remember what people said about Canelo? We are all people, not monsters. Someone can be stronger, someone can be faster, but we’re all people.”
On why he was confident he could become the first to take down Beterbiev, the WBA champion said: “Because I believe in my skills. I could beat him, why not? And I could lose, why not?
“It depends on my preparation, depends on my mentality. I could lose to Ramirez, too, but I try to do everything right in my camp and try to believe in myself and try to be focused on the fight.
“I have good defence, good combinations, good boxing skills. Why couldn’t I beat him. Of course I could.”
In May, Bivol defeated Alvarez by unanimous decision to keep hold of the WBA belt that has been in his possession since November 2017. It represented the second loss in the 62-fight pro career of Alvarez, the undisputed super-middleweight champion, who was back then considered the sport’s pound-for-pound No 1.
Alvarez, currently recovering from hand surgery following September's victory against Gennady Golovkin - his anticipated to return to action is next May - is understood to want the rematch, but at 168 lbs instead.
Promoter Eddie Hearn, sitting alongside Bivol at the post-fight press conference, suggested first the fight taking place at super-middleweight and then an encounter for undisputed against Beterbiev afterwards, to which Bivol replied jokingly: “Wow, wow. Sounds good.”
He added: “When I was amateur, I was fighting first of all against my weight, 75 kilos [165 lbs], and second against my opponent. And I decided I didn’t want to make weight, but in the pros I work with some nutritionists and I learned how to make weight easily.
“Before this weigh-on [on Friday] I had dinner, I had a small breakfast, and then I came to the scales and showed my weight. We could talk about [Canelo at 168lbs], of course, I told [Hearn] before. It’s not my preference, but we could.”
Hearn said: “It’s pretty obvious: Dmitry Bivol’s about legacy, about belts. And he wants to become undisputed. That is his absolute main focus. Obviously from my side, we want to make the biggest fights possible. And the Canelo Alvarez rematch is a very big fight. But the priority for Dmitry is to be undisputed.
“However, if Beterbiev fights [No 1-ranked WBO light-heavyweight contender Anthony] Yarde in January-February and then goes into Ramadan, then he probably wouldn’t be ready to fight Dmitry until June-July, or whatever. So we have to look as a team.”
Meanwhile, Saturday’s event marked the first in the recently announced, multi-year agreement between the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
Bivol, competing for the first time in the capital, had been based in the emirate for five-and-a-half weeks in the lead-up to Ramirez.
“I am so, so happy that I made a fight in Abu Dhabi and the first big fight here,” he said. “I love boxing and I hope that the main sport in Abu Dhabi can be boxing.
“I showed my skills tonight and I’m hoping they will make more boxing events here with Eddie, who I feel is the best boxing promoter in the world.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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