David Benavidez insists former WBA lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol deserved to win his fight against IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12 last year in Riyadh.
The superiority of Bivol
WBC 175lb “interim” champion Benavidez says Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) threw the better combinations and controlled most of the fight. He feels that if Bivol, 34, fights the same way he did last time, he will defeat undisputed champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) in their rematch on February 22 in Riyadh. Their fight will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
Some believe that the reason Benavidez is picking Bivol to win the rematch is his desire for him to be victorious because he might lack the confidence to defeat Beterbiev, who is a massive puncher. The fighting style of “Mexican Monster” Benavidez involves him putting every ounce of energy into every punch he throws to get maximum power on his punches.
David is not a big puncher, so he loads up on everything he throws to improve his power. This style doesn’t work against Beterbiev because he throws short punches with enormous power, and unlike Benavidez, he doesn’t need to reach to generate his power.
If Benavidez fights Artur, it will be a miserable night. He couldn’t charge on his shots because he was tagged. Also, David’s rapid fire combination punches left him open to being countered by Beterbiev and knocked down.
Although Benavidez takes good shots due to his large skull, which has a slight appearance of acromegaly, his ability to take shots to the body is not good. It can get hurt here. In the 12th round, Oleksandr Gvozdyk landed a hard right hand to Benavidez’s midsection, shutting down his offense entirely for the rest of the round.
He didn’t throw a punch after being hurt to the body by Gvozdyk in the final round. Beterbiev is a better body puncher than Gvozdyk, and he saw that weakness and focused on that area rather than wasting punches on Benavidez’s big skull.
Rematch prediction
“I think Bivol won that fight. It was a close fight. It couldn’t have gone either way,” said David Benavidez to the mediaThey are talking about the fight Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol on October 12th last year in Riyadh.
“I think Bivol won most of the rounds. He controlled most of the rounds, and his punching combination was better,” Benavidez continued. “I think (Bivol) does (win the rematch on February 22).
“Both fighters are high caliber fighters. So they can make adjustments. I don’t know if it will be the same fight or not, but if it is the same fight, I feel that Bivol wins.”
