Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol | ESPN - October 12, 2024

[Ruthless-RKO]

Bivol: I Can Beat Beterbiev – Why Not? I Have Good Skills, Defense, Combinations

“Because I believe in my skills. I could beat [Beterbiev], why not?” Bivol said in his post-fight press conference following the Ramirez win.

“I could lose. It depends on my preparation. It depends on my mental. I could have lost to Ramirez too. I tried to do everything right in my camp, and I tried to believe in myself.

“I tried to be focused on the fight. Why not [win against Beterbiev]? I have good defense and good combinations. I have good boxing skills. Why I couldn’t beat him? Of course, I could. I just need a good training camp and good sparring partners, and I could. You remember what people said about Canelo. We’re all people. Not monsters. Someone stronger, someone faster, but we’re all people.”

“I have to say, a year ago, a year and a half ago, I would say on paper, Beterbiev was the favorite in that fight. Not anymore. I honestly believe that Dmitry Bivol is the best 175-pound fighter in the world,” said Hearn. “As good and as dangerous Beterbiev is, I do not believe he will beat Dmitry Bivol at all.”

[Fightdoctor]

Beterbiev has a different kind of power. He would def be outboxed by Bivol but one punch from the Khabib of boxing could end the fight at any moment. The problem with Beterbiev is he trains to destroy not to compete. His training camp is so intense (pushing his body to the extreme) that he is often injured. He is also older so the infrequent fighting does not help.

[DrDuke]

It's a question, how Bivol can take Beter's punch. We know, he took Smith's and Canelo's ones well. Even Zurdo landed some decent shots. Bivol's chin looks really good so far.

[Cent0089]

It's a question, how Bivol can take Beter's punch. We know, he took Smith's and Canelo's ones well. Even Zurdo landed some decent shots. Bivol's chin looks really good so far.

Better question is, if Bivol body can take Beterbiev punch. And how Beterbiev chin can take Bivol punch, he is not feather fisted as some people think

[steve689]

The only way to beat him is to crack him hard enough, and I believe the only man who stands a chance there is Callum Smith. Bivol's power is just average, whilst Smith's is world class and Beterbiev's chin isn't the best.

wtf

[margaret thatcher]

i think bivol's foot work and timing will make it hard for bert (or anyone) to land much of note consistently. one possible opporutinity for bert is that canelo's best shot vs bivol was the uppercut, and bert is really good with that one

i'd lean bivol decision, dont think anyone can beat him at 175

[lookingaround87]

The only way to beat him is to crack him hard enough, and I believe the only man who stands a chance there is Callum Smith. Bivol's power is just average, whilst Smith's is world class and Beterbiev's chin isn't the best.

wtf

??????????

[568316]

Bivol would most definitely win, he could maybe TKO him in the later rounds with volume

[Ezzard]

Great fight. I think Bivol is the best in boxing and has been for a while.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Great fight. I think Bivol is the best in boxing and has been for a while.

He just needed the dance partners..

Guys like Spider were not gonna get the best out of him.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Bob Arum: If Hearn Is Willing To Do Beterbiev-Bivol On ESPN, We’ll Do It Any Time, Any Place

Based on what Bob Arum has seen from Artur Beterbiev, the destructive Russian’s 91-year-old co-promoter expects him to annihilate Anthony Yarde on Saturday night in London.

If the heavily favored Beterbiev beats Yarde, who is the mandatory challenger for his WBO light heavyweight title, Arum hopes to finally match Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) against unbeaten WBA champ Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) in a full title unification fight later this year. Arum emphasized again, though, that the long-awaited Beterbiev-Bivol battle can only become a reality if ESPN is granted the broadcasting rights to their 12-round, 175-pound championship match in the United States and Canada.

Arum’s company, Top Rank Inc., has an exclusive output deal with ESPN, which is available in more than 80 million households in the United States. Beterbiev relocated from Russia to Montreal, one of Canada’s most populous cities, after appearing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

The 32-year-old Bivol, who still resides in Russia, works with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, one of two promotional companies, along with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, that works exclusively with DAZN. Each of Bivol’s past six fights have been streamed by DAZN, which distributed his career-changing upset of Canelo Alvarez on its pay-per-view platform last May 7 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“We’d love to do that fight,” Arum told BS.com when asked about Beterbiev-Bivol, “but obviously it would have to be on ESPN. We could work out something with DAZN in certain areas, but in the United States and Canada, it would have to be on the ESPN platform. If Hearn is willing to do that, then we’re happy to do the fight any time, any place. We’re just not gonna do it in Russia.”

Beterbiev-Bivol would do huge business in Russia under normal circumstances, but ESPN, DAZN and the four sanctioning organizations Beterbiev and Bivol represent wouldn’t want their fight to take place there as long as Russia’s war with Ukraine continues. Regardless, Arum hopes one of the most meaningful fights that can be made in boxing materializes because it would draw a big audience for boxing to ESPN.

“If it’s on ESPN, there would be a huge audience, maybe two million homes,” Arum said. “And people wouldn’t have to pay extra to watch it, because it wouldn’t be on ESPN+, it would be on ESPN.”

Arum believes Bivol and his team will have to push Hearn to make Beterbiev-Bivol happen next. Hearn has been open about wanting Bivol to defend his WBA belt against another contender Hearn’s company promotes, London’s Joshua Buatsi (16-0, 13 KOs), in his next bout.

“I think if Bivol pushes Hearn or Vadim Kornilov, a good guy who’s [Bivol’s] manager, pushes Hearn, you know, it’ll happen,” Arum said. “If they don’t push Hearn, it won’t happen.”

Meanwhile, Arum anticipates Beterbiev, who turned 38 last Saturday, to keep his perfect knockout record intact against Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs) in a main event ESPN+ will stream in the United States (3:30 p.m. ET). The 31-year-old Yarde, of Ilford, England, has been stopped by former WBO light heavyweight champ Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) and lost a 12-round split decision to British rival Lyndon Arthur (21-1, 15 KOs), whom Yarde knocked out in the fourth round of their rematch.

“Beterbiev looks like he’s impregnable,” Arum said. “I’ve been shocked with Beterbiev. Guys can hit him and it doesn’t seem to affect him. He always seems to find a way to knock somebody out. To me, his knockout win against [former WBC champ Oleksandr] Gvozdyk [in October 2019] showed that he is a terrific fighter who is gonna be very, very tough to beat. And he handled Joe Smith like it was a piece of cake [a second-round technical knockout last June 18]. So, Beterbiev is a real talent. I’ve never seen a light heavyweight hit as hard as Beterbiev.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Could always do ESPN in the US and DAZN worldwide.

[Evander]

[Bandog]

Hopefully the weight cut won't affect Bivol fighting Canelo this fall. Sure he can make it, but remember what it did to DLH after not making 147 for several years. I'd pick Bivol in a close fight, but not sure.

[Ruthless-RKO]

How we seeing this now..

I still give slight edge to Bivol.

[gilgamesh]

I'd have to favor Bivol. I can see him getting sucked into rough back and forth exchanges in spots that Beterbiev would get the better of, but I think Bivol is smart enough to know better than to stay in them, and strong enough to be able to fight his way out and get back at the range he wants. I don't think he could go punch for punch with Bivol obviously, but I think he'd have the strength to maybe shove off and get back to range or do what he needs to do.

I think it'd probably be a consensus that either Bivol wins a UD or Bert knocks him out. I'd lean toward Bivol UD.

[Perseus]

Could always do ESPN in the US and DAZN worldwide.

I think Eddie should take that option.
Arum is expecting "maybe two million" households watching in America.
That's nice.
People watching in just Europe and Australia will probably beat that number then there is the rest of the world.

[DrDuke]

How we seeing this now..

I still give slight edge to Bivol.

Beterbiev probably underestimated Yarde like Johnson or Deines, but still Bivol is favored, yes. He is more diverse and smart, he is inferior only in punching power, but his volume is good.

[Syntax Error]

I'd still favour Bivol, but it would worry me if he goes down to 168 to rematch Canelo.

It's not a good idea for fighters above 30 to be cutting weight to limits they'd hadn't been at for a long time, or back down after going up suddenly.

Ask Chad Dawson, Roy Jones Jr and Chris Eubank Jr for details.

[1169796]

Bivol by a couple rounds on points. Too smart, too slick, too strong, won’t waste much, an with the amount Arthur doesn’t move his head.. I’d say bivol shades a good’un!

[Lackeos]

imagine they hold it in Moscow and deliberately don't stream it to the west

You're very sympathetic to the plight of Russia, huh? Well, considering that both of these boxers and their promoters live in the West, I don't think that would happen.

[golden_labrador]

imagine they hold it in Moscow and deliberately don't stream it to the west

You're very sympathetic to the plight of Russia, huh?

no

[golden_labrador]

Bivol by a couple rounds on points. Too smart, too slick, too strong, won’t waste much, an with the amount Arthur doesn’t move his head.. I’d say bivol shades a good’un!

yeah. Beterbiev would have to stop Bivol to win, which would mean risking to land - which he clearly has the chin to do, but over 12 rounds who knows. great fight!

[NateJR]

I had Beterbiev winning by stoppage until this past weekend. Beterbiev is a aging fighter and has slowed down enough I believe Bivol outboxes him to a clear UD.

The fights needs to happen this year. The longer it takes to happen, the more it turns into a mismatch favoring Bivol.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Team Beterbiev: "Our Only Interest is Bivol; Fourth Belt Is All We’re Missing"

“Honestly, our only interest is Bivol,” Ramsay told Le Journal de Montreal. “We want the fourth belt, it’s what we’re missing. We’re going to let Top Rank negotiate all that and see what happens.”