Dmitry Bivol hasn’t won a fight by knockout in 5½ years.

The long-reigning, unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion has won each of his last eight 12-round bouts by unanimous decision. He hasn’t stopped an opponent inside the distance since he beat Cuban contender Sullivan Barrera by 12th-round technical knockout in March 2018 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Bivol has the type of confidence that an orthodox boxer needs in his right hand, however, now that he has had surgery to ease the lingering pain in it. The Kyrgyzstan native underwent a procedure in April that enabled him to train more effectively and made him more optimistic about throwing his right hand without hesitation against England’s Lyndon Arthur on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“The feeling is the same, but I’m more confident with this [hand] now than before,” Bivol told BoxingScene.com. “Because before it was like I wasn’t confident with my hand, but now I’m much more confident in it. When you have some problems with your health, you can do everything fine, but sometimes you can do this and you feel pain. Then you do it again and you have some thoughts where you’re not confident in your arm or leg. But now, I fixed it and I’m confident.”

The 33-year-old Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) will end a 13-month layoff when he defends his 175-pound championship against Arthur (23-1, 16 KOs) on the “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view show at Kingdom Arena. The longtime Russian citizen last boxed in November 2022, when Bivol beat Mexican southpaw Gilberto Ramirez (45-1, 30 KOs) by unanimous decision at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

After upsetting Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez and beating Ramirez within a six-month span in 2022, Bivol believes a lengthy break served him well, and not only because it gave him time to surgically repair his right hand.

“I had a very busy year in 2022,” Bivol said. “It was very busy, very hard. And half [of this] year, I was resting mentally from that year. And then I had an operation [on] my right hand. I had an old injury and I fixed it. And then I had a couple of calm training camps, just enjoying the time in the gym, enjoying time running. And then we were waiting for offers to fight, and we got it. For me, it was good. I feel like I’m mentally much better, much more fresh, and my body is better now because last year was very busy for me.”

DraftKings sportsbook has installed Bivol as a 25-1 favorite over Arthur, who has lost only to British rival Anthony Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs). Yarde knocked out Arthur in the fourth round of their rematch in December 2021 at Copper Box Arena in London, almost exactly a year after Arthur upset him by 12-round split decision at Church House in London.

“He has a good jab, he’s a good counterpuncher with his straight right hand and uppercut,” Bivol said. “He moves good and he’s from the English boxing school. This is a good chance for me to check my skills against this guy. I think it’s a good opponent for me because other opponents are busy and he’s one of the best [options] which we had to choose from.”

Bivol-Arthur will be part of the Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin undercard. This eight-fight show is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET in the United States ($39.99) and 4 p.m. GMT in the United Kingdom (£19.99).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.