‘THE GREATEST CARD IN THE HISTORY OF BOXING’ is finally here

Turki Alalshikh has done it again, and this time, he’s done it bigger and better than ever.

The Last Crescendo… arguably the greatest boxing card of all time with the highly anticipated rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed light-heavyweight championship topping a bill that has a world title on the line in EVERY fight—quite something.

We’ll be taking a look at each fight as we look ahead to one of, if not THE, greatest card in the history of boxing.

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol - Undisputed Light-Heavyweight Championship

Well, what more can be said about this fight? A rematch between two of the best fighters on the planet at the moment, it was hard to split them in their first fight back in October, and don’t be surprised to see something similar here.

That win was the first points victory for Artur Beterbiev in his 21-fight professional career so far, so he’ll be looking to go one better this time and get the stoppage. But whatever you do, do not write Dmitry Bivol off.

He showed enough to suggest that he’s capable of turning the tables, and after suffering the first loss of his career in that fight, he’ll feel like he’s got a point to prove.

If the former WBA champ is going to avenge the only loss of his career, he needs to be busier, especially in the mid-to-late rounds. After throwing more punches than Beterbiev in the first two rounds, the now undisputed champ went on to throw more punches than Bivol in every one of the remaining 10 rounds, sometimes throwing twice as many, which if you’re a Dmitry Bivol fan, is damming.

Obviously, that’s Bivol’s style to box and pick his shots whereas Beterbiev is more ‘all action’ but in a fight with such narrow margins like this, Bivol’s output is going to be crucial to the way this fight goes not just for him, but for Beterbiev.

As for the reigning champ, the instructions will be simple, do exactly what he did in the first fight. Obviously Bivol is going to adapt as he’s the one that needs to do something differently compared to their first outing but Beterbiev is more than capable enough of adapting to what comes his way this Saturday night.

It’s another 50/50 clash and one thing is for sure, no matter what the result is, we’ll more than likely be calling for a trilogy between these two generational talents.

Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole - WBO World ‘Interim’ Heavyweight Title

Boxing is a crazy crazy CRAZY world and on Friday night, we saw a situation play out pretty much in front of our own eyes which more than justifies that statement.

It was early evening and just minutes before the final press conference, Ring Magazine reported that Daniel Dubois had been taken sick and was undergoing a medical assessment by a doctor to determine whether he would be able to fight on Saturday night.

As the press conference went on, no one, including Frank, knew for definite what was going to happen in terms of the fight.

However, behind the scenes, Turki Alalshikh was working his magic.

Moments after the press conference had finished, we got confirmation…

Dubois out, Bakole in. WHAT THE F*CK!

On TWO DAYS notice, we’ve gone from having one of the best heavyweight match ups of the year to arguably an even better match up.

Joseph Parker defending his WBO World ‘Interim’ Title against the boogeyman himself, Martin Bakole.

Whilst Parker was on the top table at the presser, Bakole was on his sofa in Congo pushing his team to make the fight and his wish was most certainly granted.

So, how does this fight go then?

Well, Parker has endured a full camp preparing for Dubois so there’s no doubt he’ll be the fitter of the two. Bakole was set to face Efe Ajagba in a final eliminator in May and his camp hadn’t even started yet so don’t expect a trim and in shape Bakole. I mean, even after a full camp, he still weighed in at a whopping 284lbs to face Jared Anderson.

These two have sparred many rounds together so they will already be familiar with each others style. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that Martin Bakole is unlikely to win this fight on points. Really, he’s got six rounds to throw the kitchen sink at Parker and hope to put a dent in him and get the stoppage.

For Parker, the instructions are simple, box and move and tire the Congolese giant out as quickly as you can and then start to pick him off when his tank is becoming empty.

The beauty about this fight though? Quite literally anything could happen so do not blink!

Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz - WBC World Middleweight Title

Highly regarded as one of the best fighters on the planet who doesn’t currently hold a world title, Hamzah Sheeraz is currently on an incredible 15-fight stoppage streak that dates all the way back to 2018.

Here, though, he comes up against the supremely talented WBC World Middleweight champion Carlos Adames, fresh off the back of a career-best win over Terrell Gausha to claim the full WBC title.

After waiting patiently and climbing his way up the rankings, this is Sheeraz’s time to shine against the elite level of this crazy sport, and with momentum more than on his side, it’s hard to see past anything other than another dominant performance from the Brit here.

If Sheeraz is victorious, that sets up potential mega-fights with the likes of Janibek Alimkhanuly, Chris Eubank, and maybe, just maybe, Canelo Alvarez.

Do not blink.

Shakur Stevenson vs Joshua Padley - WBC World Lightweight Title

A fight made on quite literally four days notice, Shakur Stevenson will defend his WBC world title against the undefeated Brit Joshua Padley after Floyd Schofield Jr was pulled out of the fight by the BBBOfC due to illness earlier this week.

Originally set to face William Zepeda on the card, the Mexican has been forced to take a spell on the sidelines due to an injury he picked up against Tevin Farmer. With Shak on the lookout for a new opponent, up stepped 22-year-old Floyd Schofield Jr but then just when everything seemed set, the young American was pulled out of the fight by the board.

Two fighters who’ve had completely different journeys in the pro ranks, Stevenson is already a three-weight world champ at the age of just 27 whilst 29-year-old Padley rose to fame when upsetting Mark Chamberlain on the Dubois/Joshua card back in September with an unbelievable performance.

Padley was the big underdog that day and he’ll be an even bigger underdog here but let’s not get our words twisted, this is the elite of the elite he is fighting now and on just four days notice.

Stevenson is highly regarded as one of the best P4P fighters on the planet and if Padley was to get the win, he’ll need to have the night of his life whilst Stevenson will need to have the worst night of his life.

The fact that the American has gone from a grudge match against Schofield to a fight against Padley, a fighter who he doesn’t have any emotion towards, means that we probably won’t see the best Shakur Stevenson.

However, he should still have more than enough to deal with Padley who deserves a huge amount of credit for taking it on short notice and he’s certainly a fighter who’s earned a shot at the big time.

This is boxing though and stranger things than a Padley victory have happened.

Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov - WBC ‘Interim’ World Super-Welterweight Title

Another fight that came out of the blue, Ortiz was expected to take on Jaron Ennis before talks broke down late in negotiations.

With the boxing world grieving from a potential clash of the titans between Ortiz and Ennis, in stepped Mr. Reliable, AKA Israil Madrimov and what a fight this promises to be.

Two fighters who can box, two fighters who can bang and two fighters who are in the prime of their careers.

The one-punch power of Ortiz’s up against Madrimov’s accumulative power and elite level boxing IQ, it’s two differing styles which will more than likely gel beautifully.

Madrimov’s rhythm is something to be admired. He has that classic Eastern European style where he’s an absolute nightmare to figure out.

Does Ortiz have the boxing IQ to figure that out and adapt when it’s in front of him?

We’ll find out on Saturday night.

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith - WBO ‘Interim’ World Light-Heavyweight Title

A fight that has been in demand for a number of years now, despite the fact they were under the same promoter, it just never got made.

Now, though, on February 22nd, 2025, we FINALLY get to find out who the best light-heavyweight in Great Britain is as Olympic bronze medalist Joshua Buatsi takes on former two-weight world champion Callum Smith.

As 50/50 fights go, this one really is exactly that. Buatsi is undefeated, but Smith’s only two career defeats have come at the hands of Canelo Alvarez and Artur Beterbiev, and away from those two fights, he’s looked pretty unbeatable.

Away from either of their teams, you won’t find anyone who can give you a confident prediction for how this fight is going to pan out, and that is exactly what makes it so appealing to not just boxing fans from Britain but boxing fans from around the world.

With the winner likely to get a shot at potentially the undisputed championship in their next fight, the reward for victory here is quite simply one thing… legacy.

Both fighters have got elite-level jabs so early on, it’ll likely be a bit of a jab fest as both look to establish that. Expect Smith to lead with a lot of left hooks whilst Buatsi will undoubtedly be the one looking to vary that jab up to head and body.

What Canelo did so well in his win over Smith was punching that left elbow of Smith’s. The left hook is Mundo’s punch and if Buatsi can nulify that then it’ll make his night a heck of a lot easier.

For Smith, he needs to take advantage of when Buatsi has rounds of. He’s notorious for slowing down in the mid rounds and with Smith’s power, he’s certainly got the ability to capitalise on those quiet moments from Buatsi and put a dent in him.

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel - WBC ‘Interim’ World Heavyweight Title

Two fighters who were both looking likely to fight Martin Bakole in a final eliminator for Daniel Dubois’s IBF world title; it was confirmed on Monday night that they will instead face each other for WBC honours.

After back-to-back stoppage victories over Joe Joyce, Zhang was edged out by Joseph Parker before breezing past Deontay Wilder inside five rounds.

Kabayel, meanwhile, has been one of the surprise packages of 2024.

An underdog against Arslanbek Makhmudov, he ripped into the rib cage of the giant Russian to claim a fourth-round stoppage before taking another 0 against Frank Sanchez in his last fight, where he systematically broke down the Cuban to pick up the seventh-round stoppage.

In a fight that could quite easily be the main event of a decent card, it’s a testament to the depth of this card that this is the first fight on.

You’d probably have Zhang down as a slight favourite due to his record against elite-level opposition, but as we have seen in his past two fights, you’d be an absolute fool to back against Agit Kabayel.

Expect Kabayel, similarly to what he did against Makhmudov and Sanchez, to really target the body. Despite the three inch height difference, they both have the same reach so it’ll obviously be a lot less distance for Kabayel to punch to that body than it would be to the head.

For Zhang, he really does need to be busier. He’s built up a reputation for waiting too long and even though he was impressive against Wilder, his punch output really wasn’t good enough.

Kabayel is a similar proposition to watch Parker was so Zhang does have that recent experience against this sort of fighter but the 41-year-old is still going to need to put in a career best performance to get the win here.