Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev will fight tonight for the undisputed light heavyweight championship at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The fight is seen as the boxer vs. the puncher, but it’s really two boxer-punchers going at it to determine who the top dog is in the 175-lb division.
WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) has the speed, mobility and the youth advantage. Age could play a factor in this fight for the 39-year-old Beterbiev because he’s coming off right knee surgery earlier this year. But if he performs at the level he did on January 13th against Callum Smith, Bivol will be in trouble. Beterbiev did not look old in that fight.
Tonight’s Beterbiev-Bivol fight will be shown live on ESPN+ at 6 p.m ET/3 p.m. PT.
“I like the Eddie Hearn vs. Artur Beterbiev rivalry. Hearn knows the game, and he got people interested. He got under Beterbiev’s skin a little bit, and he showed us some venom,” said commentator Todd Grisham to Top Rank Boxing.
“Has Eddie Hearn rattled him? Has he got under his skin?” said Dev Sahni of Queensberry Promotions.
Beterbiev didn’t look angry when he questioned Hearn about why he was talking so much about him during the final press conference. He appeared more annoyed than anything. Hearn does this kind of stuff often, trying to upset fighters who are competing against his guys. He’s doing it to help them, not only to create interest from fans.
“I think Beterbiev’s team has been bristling a little bit at the perception this is the boxer vs. the brawler,” said journalist Chris Mannix. “We know Bivol is a very talented boxer, but Beterbiev’s team is right. He is an elite boxer in his own right. He is a two-time Olympian. He has a whole bunch of amateur medals.”
Fans see Beterbiev’s 20-0 record with 20 knockouts, and they naturally assume that he’s a brawler, which he is. Beterbiev can box at times, but it’s a means to an end. He does that to set his opponents up for big power shots to knock them out.
“He will touch you. He will throw four and five-punch combinations with regularity. There’s plenty of boxing skills within Artur Beterbiev. At the same time, I do think the 12 knockouts on Bivol’s resume are a little bit misleading.
“I do think he has more power than those 12 knockouts suggest. Bivol is the type of guy that rises to the level of his competition.”
Bivol has good power, but he rarely uses it because his focus is always on throwing rapid combinations and then moving away. He doesn’t set his feet to load up on his punches. In Bivol’s last fight against Malik Zinad, he unleashed a flurry, landing 18 consecutive headshots to get a referee stoppage in the sixth round on June 1st. Bivol needed to throw a lot of punches to get the knockout.
“Both of these guys are two examples of Eastern European styles where you maximize your natural and your physical ability,” said trainer Andy Lee about Bivol and Beterbiev. “What I’m looking at in the fighters is can Beterbiev force him to go back and retreat. Can he get him on the ropes? What can he do once he gets him there?”
Bivol will retreat if Beterbiev comes forward because that’s how he always fights. Bivol tends to give ground when pushed by powerful punchers, as he doesn’t want to get hit. What will be interesting to see is what Bivol will do when he runs out of real estate and is caught by Beterbiev. Will he fight or hold?
“With Bivol, I’m looking to see if he can hold his hands up. Can he punch and make Beterbiev miss and then counter off that?” said Lee.
