Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol fight preview, tale of the tape, top 10 world light-heavyweight champions
The two light-heavyweight kings Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will duel this Saturday night in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to crown boxing’s first ever undisputed champion in a four-belt era.
A two-time Olympian who turned pro in 2013, Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20KO) is boxing’s only world champion with a 100 percent knockout ratio. He captured the IBF title in his 12th fight, later adding the WBC and WBO belts with brutal stoppages over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in 2019 and Joe Smith Jr. in 2022.
Beterbiev is coming off January’s seventh-round TKO of former super-middleweight world champion Callum Smith in Quebec City, Canada.
Bivol (23-0, 11KO) has held the WBA light heavyweight title since 2017, with 12 successful defences, the third-most in the division’s history, and recently claimed the IBO belt too.He achieved a career-defining victory in May 2022, defeating Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision, cementing his status as a pound-for-pound force.
Bivol’s reign includes wins over notable opponents like Jean Pascal, Joe Smith Jr., Lyndon Arthur and Gilberto Ramirez.
Beterbiev and Bivol were initially scheduled to fight on June 1, but AB suffered a ruptured meniscus in training. Bivol fought overmatched Malik Zinad on that date instead, scoring a devastating sixth-round TKO.
Tale of the Tape
ARTUR BETERBIEV
WBC, IBF, WBO light-heavyweight world champion
Age: 39
DOB: January 21, 1985
Record: 20-0, 20 KOs
Total rounds: 98
World championship fights: 9-0, 9 KOs
Height: 5’11.5” – 182cm
Reach: 73” – 185cm
Stance: Right-handed
Manager: Self-managed
Trainer: Marc Ramsay
DMITRY BIVOL
WBA, IBO light-heavyweight world champion
Age: 33
DOB: December 18, 1990
Record: 23-0, 12 KOs
Total rounds: 190
World championship fights: 12-0, 2KOs
Height: 6’0” – 183cm
Reach: 72” – 183cm
Stance: Right-handed
Manager: Vadim Kornilov
Trainer: Gennady Mashianov
Fight Preview
By James Blears
Brooding, light-heavy storm clouds are clustering, looming on the horizon, forecasting the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol typhoon, which will break over our heads, on the 12th day of the 10th month, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Instinctive vs intuitive; power vs guile… we’ve had to wait a while for this marked contrast in fighting style.
It’s all at stake with literally everything to go for, so no holding back!
Beterbiev holds the WBC, IBF and WBO belts in his vice-like grip, determined to complete the matching undisputed set for the first time in the four-belt era. In a rare humorous moment, he mischievously confided: ‘’That’s what I’d like to do… but don’t tell anyone.’’
Meanwhile, Dmitry, who possesses the WBA version, plus the IBO belt, is coveting the other three.
This is the supreme test to finally decide which of the two unbeaten B’s has the more piquant sting, more intense willpower, and greater firepower to be crowned the undisputed king of the 175lbs division.
It has all the makings of an awesome classic of the thus far undefeated, which will be remembered and talked about for many years to come.
Come what may, Artur has squarely turned the tables on each and every one of his 20 opponents. None have heard the soothing, melodic chime of the final bell.
Yet, aged 39, he’s had to overcome a litany of injuries, which are increasingly blighting and affecting a body, which along with all the rest of us, is subject to the wear and tear of Mother Nature and Father Time.
This one was pencilled in for June 1st, but Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus knee injury and underwent keyhole surgery. Prior to the Callum Smith clash, he went under the knife for an infected jaw, which had stemmed from a root canal procedure. The Anthony Yarde fight was put back due to an undisclosed injury. He picked up a rib injury before the Adam Deines encounter and there was a delay. So on and so forth!
Dmitry, who is six years younger, tartly observed: ‘’Beterbiev is starting to fall apart and getting injured often. He is not a young guy and it’s not a joke any more. He’s almost 40-years-old. He’s been fighting since he got out of the crib. He’s had many injuries and many wars. You never know what kind of Beterbiev we’re going to see, especially after this latest injury.’’
The Beterbiev he will encounter, however, will be ready, unhampered, tempered, honed and focused upon delivering an unremitting war of attrition, such as he’s never seen, encountered, experienced, weathered or endured, in all his born days.
Former rival Anthony Yarde starkly stated: ‘’He takes away opponents’ souls. He beats them up, for however many rounds they last. He seemed human… until the end! He knows when to step off, when to take a breather. That’s one of the things that I’m learning.’’
Artur’s long-time Coach Marc Ramsay concurs: ‘’When you get older, you change a few things, or you cannot stay in boxing. He’s a better technical fighter than he was a couple of years ago. Maybe you lose a little something, but you gain a bit of something? He still tries to learn every day in the gym.’’
Beterbiev’s greatest hour of glory came when he relieved hitherto undefeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk of the WBC Green and Gold Belt, to add it to his IBF strap. It was a titanic give and take encounter, during which both inflicted and absorbed eye watering blows. They stood their ground and traded fire.
The tide slowly but surely ebbed, flowed and turned, at the round eight point. Clusters of Beterbiev rights to the body had taken their toll and he kept upping the tempo. He kept coming! A torrid ninth followed and then in the 10th a short, crunching left to the head put Oleksandr down.
Brave as a lion, but weakened and weary as a fireside kitten, he got back up, bleary-eyed, but Beterbiev dropped him again with a right. Somehow, he clambered up from the canvas again, only to absorb another short clubbing right and this time, after he went down, his number was up. Three canvas visits and you’re out!
In another cliff-hanger, a horrendous gash on the forehead and a gush of blood, following an accidental clash of heads with Marcus Browne in the fourth, didn’t divert Artur’s intention, iron willpower or purpose one iota, as bloodied but unbowed, he pursued, persevered and powered on like a tractor to TKO his exhausted, battered, bewildered and disillusioned opponent in the ninth.
The styles of Artur and Dmitry are markedly different, so will they complement or contrast each other? Whereas Bivol likes to pivot on the back and front foot, fluidly putting the full weight of his leg and body into a long-range punch, Beterbiev uses his tensile upper body strength, to inflict cluster bombs, which land from close range, with rumbling thuds and bumps which wear down over time.
Both have fast and accurate hands, but Artur’s are heavier. They are both very active, throwing lots, exerting energy that lasts.
Dmitry’s strategy will not only be to become the first fighter who has lasted the distance with Artur. Yet, he must go one better than that, by outwitting, outfoxing and outboxing him, in a cerebral quest for victory. He possesses a great IQ, so too does his counterpart, but his way to win will be to maintain a safe distance where he can work and his opposer can’t. This game plan may take the full 12.
Against Canelo, Dmitry moved laterally and constantly, mixing up the pace, never allowing Saul to settle into a rhythm, set or anchor his feet to summon substantial punches. He transformed retreat into attack, letting both of his hands go and using his stiff left jab to control the fight, waving it like a wan in the Mexican’s face to really frustrate the four-weight world champion.
An accurate and sneaky counter-puncher, who judges distance with laser-like, artful precision. Not easy to stick or pin, while his own coiled right is ever ready to unleash, deliver and ruthlessly punish.
When fighting Gilberto ‘’Zurdo’’ Ramirez, Dmitry used speed and fancy footwork to fluidly move and then pepper the bigger, but so much slower man, often backing him up. Very doubtful if he could do this to Artur for a sustained spell.
Question is whether Dmitry will be able to hold off the onslaught of the incessant Artur, who doesn’t give opponents time to concentrate, contemplate, snatch a break or re-group, pressuring them into mistakes they wouldn’t normally commit.
He’s on them, stays on them and batters away, often as not without respite, especially after he’s found an opening, to jaggedly widen and deepen. He may take a shot or two on his way into range, but he remains undeterred. If ever he does catch a big one cold, he simply goes for a walk, allows 30 seconds to clear his head, then continues on his quest again.
Beterbiev has been down twice in his career before, first time early in his career, in his seventh contest with Jeff Page Jr, but it wasn’t completely legitimate, but it was scored a knockdown. Page pushed his left forearm into Beterbiev’s face which pushed him back, squared his legs, and sneaky right hand sent him unbalanced backwards onto the canvas. He jumped back up and charged like a raging bull until he dropped him twice and stopped him in the second.
The second knockdown was completely legitimate when he was caught with a short, potent left hook when fighting in close with Briton Callum Johnson in 2018. By the fourth round, it was all over as Artur maintained his 100% KO ratio.
Despite his perfect record of all wins, all KOs, Artur mostly doesn’t possess one-punch power like the legendary Bob Foster, who demonstrated it to the best effect against Mike Quarry. Rather, Beter keeps coming, come what may, and his opponents keep getting up only to be knocked down again.
Dmitry must try his utmost and keep his wits about him, to preserve this at range, to conserve, maintain and restrict it to a boxing match, and not become embroiled in a brawl, which wouldn’t be wise, as in going for the bait, he’ll get caught hook, line and sinker.
Both have fought Joe Smith Jr, who extended Dmitri the full 12, however Artur dispatched him in two brief, unforgettable rounds, after the construction worker got his tactics wrong when he tried to stand and trade with the beast – it didn’t go well or last long.
This fight was well and truly on after Artur and Dmitry came across each other during a brief, wry, arid encounter in the heart of Riyadh last year, just prior to a dinner. Both were dressed up to the nines. Dmitri a touch more formal in a dicky-bow, while Artur more casually attired in an open-necked shirt below his tux.
Artur’s rather shy smile, instantly vanished, transforming into a fixed, chilling, icy glare, as they did a brief face to face, while Dmitri remained impassive. And then, Artur quipped that Dmitry was always talking about a fight, but not coming through with it. That’s now changed because he we are, on the brink!
Iconic Artur is laconic. He lets his actions speak volumes, rather than his words. As he explains: ‘’Usually we never talk about strategy or what we are going to try to do. Like every fight, for me it’s important. Any fight is dangerous, because boxing is dangerous.’’
In one form or another, Dmitry has been WBA champion since 2017. He’s not the destructive enforcer, wielding booming gongs and clashing symbols, percussion-style, like Artur. To win he will need to box his opponent’s ears off and avoid getting into toe-to-toe confrontations. He simply needs to box, not fight; however there’s nothing simple about imposing that game plan. Whether it works or not, it’ll be bruising from start to finish.
Beterbiev will do what he’s always done. Walk down, close gaps, get into range to get his work off, but that it going to be equally difficult to implement due to Bivol’s intelligent movement and range mastery.
It’s safe to say, “We have a fight!”
WBC Top 10 World Light-heavyweight Champions
1. Roy Jones Jr. (US)
2. Bernard Hopkins (US)
3. Bob Foster (US)
4. Michael Spinks (US)
5. Adonis Stevenson (Haiti/Canada)
6. Mike McCallum (Jamaica)
7. Jose Torres (Puerto Rico)
8. Dick Tiger (Nigeria)
9. Matthew Saad Muhammad (US)
10. Chad Dawson (US)
Predictions
Abel Sanchez Boxing Trainer
“Great matchup, both fighters with extensive successful credentials, I think they are being pushed into a fight neither fighter wants (politically), although our sport needs it, the best taking on the best.
“I believe the outcome will come down to the corner that makes the best adjustments, in my opinion Beterbiev has the most experienced corner, Mark Ramsay will be able reach back on experience, will direct and provide the calm instructions to win a tough, very close 12 round fight.”