No! Russian Boxer Dmitry Bivol Has Not Been Paid For His Victory Against Canelo Alvarez After His Country's Invasion Of Ukraine

Dmitry Bivol (Insatgram @bivol_d)

JAKARTA - More than a week ago, Dmitry Bivol beat Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez by unanimous decision. The Russian's victory gave the Mexican boxer the second defeat of his career, in one of the highest-grossing fights of the year.

While Canelo is guaranteed a payout of 15 million US dollars, Russian boxer Bivol should have received 2 million US dollars. However, so far, he had not received a single dollar of the prize he deserved to win.

In an interview given to Tass's agency, Bivol explained that his payment for the fight with Canelo "has not arrived", this is because of the sanctions the international community has imposed on the Russian government for attacking Ukraine.

Quoted from Marca, Wednesday, the finances of a number of Russians from various social sectors have been affected by President Vladimir Putin's decision to attack Ukraine almost three months ago. The reason is, their bank accounts are frozen like the light heavyweight world champion.

Under this scenario, there is no tentative date for the Russians to recover their money held in the bank. And in Bivol's case, the promoter who organized his latest fight has said nothing about the advantage it should give him.

To prevent something like this from happening, Bivol didn't even carry his country's flag when he stepped into the ring in Las Vegas, Nevada. The national anthem "Tsar" was also not sung. And now, he has not received the money.

Bivol and his team are studying ways to get the money out quickly. However, so far there is no alternative but to wait.

Now, something more complicated emerged. Bivol will either fight without pay or stop boxing until international sanctions against Russia end.

This choice will have to be made in a few weeks, as Bivol will have to determine its future soon; a rematch with Canelo or against Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez, who beat Germany's Dominic Boesel?