Artur Beterbiev comes into this Saturday’s battle in opposition to Dmitry Bivol with out ever having fought in a big-stage mega-fight throughout his 11-year professional profession. Bivol has a giant benefit over Beterbiev, having fought the Face of Boxing, Canelo Alvarez, in Could 2022 in Las Vegas in entrance of a giant crowd on the T-Cell Area.
(Credit score: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotion)
IBF, WBC, and WBO gentle heavyweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) has fought in two Olympics however by no means received a gold medal. Nevertheless, he’s accustomed to excessive stress from the competitors he confronted in these video games and the 300+ newbie fights he had.
Beterbiev’s Largest Fights
– Callum Smith
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk
– Anthony Yarde
– Joe Smith Jr.
– Marcus Browne
Bivol’s battle in opposition to Canelo was in opposition to a smaller fighter developing from the 168-lb division, and he wasn’t a pure gentle heavyweight like Beterbiev. Nevertheless, it nonetheless counts that Bivol outboxed the extremely expert Canelo, who got here into the competition with just one profession defeat in opposition to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Beterbiev and WBA gentle heavyweight champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) will meet on Saturday, October twelfth, for the undisputed championship on the Kingdom Area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their battle will likely be proven stay on ESPN+ and is predicted to start out at 6:00 p.m. ET.
“The distinction right here is for that Canelo battle, Bivol was the underdog. Everyone thought Canelo was going to up there and snag one other belt like he did in opposition to Kovalev at 175 kilos,” stated Bernardo Osuna to the State of Boxing on X. “This time, he [Canelo] fought a man [Bivol] at his pure weight who might field.
“So, how a lot credit score do you give to Bivol for that victory over Canelo by way of that was a career-defining win and the way a lot does that carry into the ring on Saturday night time in Saudi Arabia?”
“I feel that could be a giant edge for Bivol on this battle. That was an enormous win,” stated Mike Coppinger. “No one gave Bivol a shot. I picked Canelo as properly. Canelo was like a 4 to 1 in that battle. Such as you stated, we thought Canelo was going to go up and get one other belt. We knew that Bivol was actually good, however he hadn’t confronted anyone of observe.
“So far as the scorecards. They have been all 7-5 for Bivol. I believed it was extra of a 10-2, 9-3 battle. He was carving up Canelo and placing him on the ropes, and even when Canelo had Bivol on the ropes, he was making him miss and pay. It was one of the spectacular performances up to now 10 to fifteen years,” stated Coppinger.
Canelo regarded drained after the third spherical in opposition to Bivol, and he had nothing to maintain him off after he gassed out. He didn’t carry out badly within the first two rounds, however by the third, Canelo had nothing left and was getting rifled with photographs by the better-conditioned Bivol. It’s unlikely that Beterbiev will fade on this battle the way in which Canelo did, and he’s obtained the scale to match Bivol. The ability and the brief punching from Beterbiev place him forward of Bivol.
“We’re speaking a couple of man in Canelo Alvarez who had solely misplaced to Floyd Mayweather. That’s his solely different loss. So, we might even see a rematch sooner or later, however that was a very hostile environment. Everyone was rooting for Canelo. It was Cinco de Mayo weekend, and Bivol actually rose to the event. Beterbiev has not fought at that stage, and he’s going to on Saturday,” stated Coppinger.
Beterbiev’s lack of big-stage expertise received’t have an effect on him as it might one other fighter who didn’t get pleasure from a protracted newbie profession, two Olympics, and an unbeaten report. He’s by no means tasted defeat and marched by means of his 20-fight profession, knocking out everybody he’s confronted.
