Promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t ruling out his fighter Dmitry Bivol scoring a stoppage over Artur Beterbiev on Saturday. He notes that many people have said that Bivol’s power is underrated, and he can potentially knock out Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) if he can hurt him with something. Bivol certainly has the punching power to knock out Beterbiev if he gets wreckless or if he goes for the stoppage.
Bivol must abandon his usual fighting style to pull that off because the one-two combinations he throws won’t get the job done. It might get him hurt because Beterbiev will land one of his big shots in between the combination.
Hearn says Beterbiev doesn’t have one-punch power. His knockouts come from landing a lot of shots. He states that Beterbiev has been “hurt a lot’ during his career, and he believes that with Bivol’s high output, he can KO him if he puts him in trouble.
IBF, WBC, and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev and WBA champ Bivol will meet in the 12-round main event for the undisputed world championship this Saturday, October 12th, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their fight will be shown live on ESPN+.
“I don’t think Beterbiev has concussive one-punch power. He’s just very heavy-handed, and he hits you a lot, and he hits you hard often,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, questioning the pinching power of Artur Beterbiev for his match against Dmitry Bivol.
“A lot of people say Bivol’s punch power is underrated. Beterbiev has been hurt a lot. Callum Johnson dropped him real heavy with a left hook. He’s been dropped and hurt in other fights as well. I think Dmitry is going to have to have that much output, where he should be able to hurt him. If he can hurt Beterbiev, he has a fantastic chance in this fight.”
Bivol has excellent power, but he fails to take advantage of it by his habit of retreating after throwing one or two shots. He doesn’t commit to anything and is still fighting in the same amateur style that he began his career with in 2014.
“People are reluctant to have high output against Beterbiev because he likes to exchange with you. One thing Dmitry can’t afford in this fight is to be well behind at halfway and busted up. That’s a disaster against Beterbiev. You have to hit that halfway point fresh and winning.
“I think he’s sharp enough, and he punches hard enough to hurt Beterbiev. Can he knock him out? Quite possibly. I think Beterbiev can be a little bit predictable at times, and I think the more frustrated he’ll get, the more predictable he’ll get. I think Dmitry will be able to read him quite easily in this fight, but you’ve still got to be able to handle the power and the pressure,” said Hearn.
Without putting himself at great risk, it’s very unlikely that Bivol can score a knockout against Beterbiev. Bivol would need to get in the trenches to have a chance of knocking out Beterbiev, and he’s not going to do that.
