The Hauser Report: Dmitry Bivol Should Not Be Allowed to Fight Canelo Alvarez

“The ambition is global domination. It is like a snowball that keeps on growing. We never stop trying to do more or be bigger or go to new territories.”

No, that wasn’t Vladimir Putin. It was Eddie Hearn (as reported by Ron Lewis on May 16, 2021). Hearn, of course, didn’t say it in the context of geopolitics. He was talking about Matchroom Boxing and DAZN.

Matchroom and DAZN are now planning to promote and stream a championship fight between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7. Because Bivol is a Russian citizen who lives in Russia, there have been calls to replace him as Canelo’s opponent.

On March 8, Wladimir Klitschko (who has returned to Kyiv to help defend his Ukrainian homeland against Russian aggression) was interviewed by BBC 5 Live Radio and urged the broadest possible economic sanctions against Russia including a global boycott of Russian athletes. When asked if Canelo-Bivol should proceed, Klitschko answered, “Absolutely not. Every sanction – and it’s nothing against the personalities or athletes, it’s about the politics of Russia – every Russian representative in this case needs to be sanctioned because this way we show to Russia that the world is against his [Putin’s] senseless war and there is no good in this war.”

“To isolate Russia from all sporting competition is not an act of aggression,” Klitschko continued. “We do this to stop the war, in the name of peace. I have nothing personal against the athletes, but I have a lot against the aggression of Russian leader Putin. We believe sanctions on different levels, including sport, are crucially important. If you take away sporting competition, the athletes will ask their leader, ‘Why will nobody compete against us?’ I repeat, this is not against the athletes. It’s in the name of peace in Ukraine.”

Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan but has lived in Russia for most of his life and is a Russian citizen. Those who support his right to fight Canelo on May 7 say there’s nothing to indicate that he favors Putin’s war of aggression and that sports should be kept separate from politics. But the arguments against allowing Canelo-Bivol to proceed are overwhelming.

At the March 2 kick-off press conference for Canelo-Bivol, Dmitry told reporters, “None of us are enjoying what is happening. I have a lot of friends in Ukraine. I have a lot of friends in Russia and my family is in Russia. I wish everyone peace and only the best.”

That’s an empty statement. I have no idea what Bivol’s political views are. He seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. One empathizes with the fact that his family in Russia would be at risk if he spoke out against the invasion of Ukraine. The war isn’t his fault. But I have more sympathy for the people who are being killed as a consequence of Russia’s brutal aggression.

Sports are important to geopolitics. Indeed, it’s widely believed that the Chinese government asked Putin to not invade Ukraine until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing came to a close. Far from being a bastion of good will, sports are a money-making machine and, to borrow a phrase from Karl Marx, the opiate of the masses.

Despite calls for the United States to boycott the 1936 Olympics in Germany, the games went ahead with American participation. Some people look back fondly on those games because of the gold-medal performances by Jesse Owens. But Germany led the medal count at the 1936 Olympics by a wide margin. The games strengthened Adolph Hitler’s standing with the German people and were the subject of Leni Riefenstahl’s influential propaganda film, Olympia.

Vitali Klitschko’s own political career speaks to the power of sports as a platform for political action (he is now mayor of Kyiv), as do the lives of Muhammad Ali and Manny Pacquiao.

Canelo-Bivol isn’t just any fight. Because of Canelo’s stature, a victory for Bivol would make Dmitry a potent symbol of Russian might and be heralded as a great victory for Russia. Some people point to the 1938 rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling and ask, “If Schmeling fought then, why can’t Bivol fight now.” The answer is that (1) those were different times; (2) even then, there were calls to boycott Louis-Schmeling II; and (3) it was personally important to Louis that he fight Schmeling, whereas Bivol is a fungible opponent for Canelo. And think of the boost it would have given Hitler’s vile regime if Schmeling had won.

Is it fair to deprive Bivol of a large payday, thereby imposing a financial sanction on one man who is not responsible for the carnage in Ukraine?

That’s the way economic sanctions work. Is it fair to deprive oil workers in Russia or Russians who work at McDonald’s and Starbucks of their jobs? Financial sanctions are designed to impact upon an aggressor nation’s people. It’s better than killing them. If Bivol loses the opportunity to fight Canelo, I’ll have a degree of sympathy for him. But not as much sympathy as I feel for the people in Ukraine who are being brutalized by the Russian invasion.

And by the way; paying higher prices for gas as a consequence of the economic sanctions being imposed on Russia is a small price for Americans to pay. It’s a far lesser sacrifice than being bombed or sending soldiers to die in battle.

Neutrality isn’t an acceptable option in the present crisis. In Dante’s Inferno, it’s written of those who refuse to take a stand on moral issues, “Let us not talk of them, but look and pass.” Later, those words were interpreted and quoted by John F. Kennedy as “the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.”

As the Irish-born British statesman Edmund Burke wrote more than two centuries ago, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Randy Roberts is uniquely qualified to comment on the present situation. Roberts holds the title of Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University where he teaches a course on World War II. He has also been a visiting professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point where he taught courses on military history and the history of sport. And he has been honored with the A.J. Liebling Award by the Boxing Writers Association of America for biographies of Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, and Jack Johnson.

Roberts says unequivocally, “Bivol should not be allowed to fight Canelo. The world community has to put as much pressure as possible on Russia. Sports are a national unifying factor. Sports are a way to measure international greatness. That’s why they count Olympic medals. It shouldn’t be that way but it is. To deny a world stage in sports to Russia is important. The Russian people aren’t responsible for what’s happening today in Ukraine. But it’s impossible to separate Russia from the Russian people. Denying Bivol the opportunity to fight would be an appropriate extension of economic sanctions.”

“This is a scary time,” Roberts continues. “Never in my life since the Cuban Missile Crisis have I thought there was a real possibility of nuclear war. I always felt that sane people were ultimately in charge. But Putin doesn’t fit that mold because, like Hitler, he shows a willingness to take unthinkable steps. I don’t think he has wide support for this war in the military or among the Russian people. There have to be generals in Russia who, right now, are thinking that what’s happening in Ukraine is wrong. But can they halt the use of nuclear weapons if Putin orders it?”

Where do we go from here?

First, let’s acknowledge the heroic role being played by Vitali Klitschko as mayor of Kyiv. Vitali (pictured) and Wladimir are inspirational figures. Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk have returned to their homeland and also joined the defense effort.

As of this writing, Matchroom and DAZN seem to be moving ahead with Canelo-Bivol. Let’s not forget; this is the same team that staged the 2019 rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia despite compelling evidence that the Saudi government was responsible for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.

DAZN founder Len Blavatnik is Ukrainian-born and a citizen of both the United States and United Kingdom. His personal fortune has been estimated by Bloomberg and other sources as being well in excess of $20 billion. A substantial portion of his wealth came from buying formerly-state-owned oil and aluminum assets in Russia as they were privatized by the Russian government.

Blavatnik could unilaterally pull the plug on Canelo-Bivol in an instant. And if he’s concerned about the financial impact that would have on Bivol, he could reach into his pocket to make Dmitry whole.

Or maybe, at the opposite end of the spectrum, someone will cynically decide that the controversy over whether Bivol should be in the ring on May 7 is good marketing for Canelo-Bivol and that it will engender more subscriptions and pay-per-view buys.

Meanwhile, if DAZN proceeds with its plans to stream Canelo-Bivol, DAZN subscribers can cancel their subscriptions in protest. At the very least, if the fight goes ahead, boxing fans should donate $79.99 to a Ukrainian relief fund rather than buy the fight. Don’t fall for someone saying, “Oh, we’ll donate a portion of the proceeds from the promotion to charity.” Take matters into your own hands, boycott the fight, and donate the full $79.99.

Which is more important: being entertained by two men in a fistfight or making an effort to halt a senseless slaughter?

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – Broken Dreams: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, he was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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