Unified light heavyweight champion, Artur Beterbiev is all set to battle Callum Smith for a WBC-mandated title defense. Meanwhile, it was recently reported that his co-promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing won the prize bid for the fight. Matchroom boss, Eddie Hearn, was the co-bidder at this purse bid at Guadalajara, Mexico. And, is said to have lost out on the offer by a very small margin.

As announced by the WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman, Top Rank’s bid stood at $2,115,000. Which was, in fact, only $15,000 lower than Matchroom’s $2,100,000 offer.

In accordance with WBC’s rules, Beterbiev is entitled to 70 percent (of 90 percent) of the winning bid as the defending champion. While Callum is entitled to 30 percent. Notably, this leaves the fighters with purses of $1,332,450 and $571,050, respectively. The remaining 10 percent of the winning bid ($211,500) will go to the winner of the fight.

Beterbiev was initially set to face Dmitry Bivol for an undisputed showdown. However, he was blacklisted due to the ongoing crisis in his country. Speaking about the same, Sulaiman cemented his decision to make Beterbiev fight his mandatory, Smith. And also added that he will not be sanctioning a title fight involving Bivol.

Fans react to Top Rank winning the bid for Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Smith

The news of Top Rank Boxing winning the bid undoubtedly surprised both the boxing fraternity and fans. In fact, boxer Sunny Edwards joined fans in addressing their doubts about the bid.

A few fans were quick to point out that the winning bid seemed a bit too ‘dodgy’.

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Edwards was surprised by the small margin with which Top Rank won the bout. And even mentioned that someone might have peeked into the envelopes.

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Meanwhile, a user stated that Matchroom was constantly losing the purse bids for major fights. On the other hand, user Scott Robbins added that Matchroom only negotiated for their personal gain. And, never considered giving fighters the home advantage.

However, another user made it a point to take a slight dig at Hearn. Moreover, he mentioned that Hearn might potentially announce that Top Rank is overpaying. What are your thoughts on Top Rank winning the bid? Let us know in the comments below.

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