Dmitry Bivol is working on developing his power ahead of his undisputed light heavyweight fight against unified three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The Beterbiev-Bivol fight will be shown live on ESPN+, while the undercard will be broadcast on DAZN PPV.
Bivol’s Challenge: Taming the Knockout Artist
The WBA 175-lb champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) is a finesse fighter without much power. He must find a way to keep the knockout artist Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) off him to win a 12-round decision.
He must stay on the move for the entire fight to keep Beterbiev from working him over with heavy shots. The real problem is that Bivol is a true super middleweight, and he doesn’t possess the size or the punching power to deal with guys like Beterbiev.
The 33-year-old Bivol was hurt by Lyndon Arthur last December and would have been knocked out in that fight if the British fighter had more mobility to chase him down after staggering him.
Bivol won’t be able to knock Beterbiev out because he stops his opponents by landing an accumulation of blows throughout a fight. He can’t do that against Beterbiev without getting caught by one of his big shots and knocked out.
The Perils of the Ropes
The way Bivol has shelled up against the ropes in recent fights against Malik Zinad, Lyndon Arthur, Gilberto Ramirez, and Canelo Alvarez will put him at risk if he uses the same tactic against Beterbiev.
Fighters don’t last long when they retreat to the ropes against Beterbiev. We’ve often seen that with guys like Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, Marcus Browne, and Joe Smith. That’s how Bivol fights, and he probably won’t be able to resist backing up against the ropes against Beterbiev, thinking he can block all the shots from him.
The best Bivol can hope for is strengthening himself enough to make Beterbiev think twice about pressuring. That’s easier said than done because Beterbiev has knocked out guys recently with far better power than Bivol, like Anthony Yarde, Callum Smith, Joe Smith Jr., and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
