Malik Zinad will vie for his first major title, one fight ahead of schedule.

The Ring has confirmed that the unbeaten 30-year-old contender has been tabbed to challenge WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol. The scheduled 12-round bout takes place June 1 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Zinad (22-0, 16 knockouts) replaces Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 knockouts), who was due to face Bivol for the undisputed championship. Beterbiev, The Ring’s No. 1-rated light heavyweight, suffered a ruptured meniscus, and was forced to withdraw.

Messages left with representatives for Bivol, Zinad and event handler Turki Alalshikh were not returned as this goes to publication. However, The Ring has learned that a deal was immediately struck with GOAT MGT founder Nomaan Ali, Zinad’s manager. The quick call to action allowed Bivol to remain on the show, as first reported by ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger.

Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) will no longer command the main event slot, though irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) and Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) will now advance the headlining act. Their heavyweight bout anchors the Matchroom Boxing vs. Queensberry Promotions 5-vs.-5 tournament.

Bivol will attempt his 11^th defense of the WBA light heavyweight title. He has held the full version since a November 2017 first-round knockout of Trent Broadhurst.

His sights were set on Beterbiev’s WBC, IBF and WBO titles to crown the first fully unified light heavyweight king in more than 20 years. That dream is now delayed until at least later this year.

Meanwhile, Zinad will do his part to enter the undisputed equation.

The first-time title bid also marks a quick ring return for the Malta-based Libyan boxer. Zinad outpointed unbeaten Jerome Pampellone in their April 24 IBF semifinal title eliminator in Sydney. Another win would have put him in position as the mandatory challenger.

That route is no longer necessary, thanks to the cooperative efforts of his team.

The five week-turnaround for Zinad is his shortest gap between fights since 2019. Fittingly, it makes up for lost time; his win over Pampellone ended a 13-month ring absence.

Bivol returns to the site that hosted his last title defense. The Ring’s No. 2 light heavyweight and No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter outpointed Lyndon Arthur last December 23 at Kingdom Arena.

The rest of the show remains intact and will air live on DAZN Pay-Per-View. Beterbiev-Bivol was due to stream separately on ESPN+. In addition to Bivol-Zinad and Wilder-Zhang, at least four more fights are confirmed for the show.

Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs), No. 5 at heavyweight, will face former WBA ‘Regular’ titlist Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs). As previously reported by The Ring, Hrgovic-Dubois will likely come the vacant IBF heavyweight title at stake. It will depend on the outcome of the May 18 Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury undisputed championship. The winner is expected to immediately relinquish the IBF belt in lieu of a mandatory title defense versus Hrgovic..

WBA 126-pound titlist Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) will defend his belt versus Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs). Ford is No. 7 at 126, while Ball is The Ring’s No. 4-rated contender.

Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) and Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) meet in a pairing of unbeaten middleweights. London’s Craig Richards (18-3-1, 11 KOs) and Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson (17-1, 13 KOs) square off in a light heavyweight matchup.

Wilder is the team captain for the Matchroom squad that also includes Hrgovic, Ford, Williams and Richards.

Sheeraz heads Team Queensberry, who is also represented by Zhang, Dubois, Ball and Hutchinson.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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