Broadcaster Tim Bradley feels Dmitry Bivol won’t be able to run away from Artur Beterbiev all night without eventually getting tired and getting caught on Saturday night. Advice to do the dirty holding Beterbiev to close his offense.
(Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions)
Bradley says it’s important that Bivol (23-0, 12 KO) “attack” Beterbiev to neutralize his offense. He wants Bivol to move, punch, and catch Beterbiev in a clinch every time he gets close. In other words, Bradley recommends that Bivol use the punch-and-grab technique that many finesse fighters use.
That will not make happy the fans who tune in to watch the Beterbiev-Bivol fight in high numbers because they want to be entertained and do not want to see a fighter who makes a boring fight because he is afraid of being knocked down.
Bivol is six years younger than 39-year-old IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), and is not coming off knee surgery. Why would Bivol need to fight dirty by tying up Beterbiev all night?
What will His Excellency Turki Alalshikh think of Bivol if he sees him hit and run rather than fight Beterbiev? If you’re Bivol, it’s not a good idea to follow Bradley’s advice to neutralize Beterbiev’s offense. Those types of fighters are a dime a dozen, and nobody wants to watch them, especially on PPV.
Bradley: Do not allow Beterbiev to work
“Bivol can’t move and run away from Beterbiev all night because he’s always going to beat you,” Tim Bradley told Sean Zittel. channel about Dmitry Bivol not being able to stay moving for 12 rounds without being caught by Artur Beterbiev.
Ideally, Bivol shouldn’t be moving all night anyway, because if he’s as good as the many fans and oddsmakers think he is, he should be able to knock off Beterbiev. He is younger, faster, and is the better combined puncher than Beterbiev. That should be enough.
“I think what Bivol is going to end up having to do is he’s going to tie it up,” Bradley said. “The tie is part of boxing. So, it ties the man and they do not allow him to workkeep your momentum going. Bivol knows how to do that. Another thing that Bivol knows how to do is that he really knows how to choke.”
The fans expected a lot more from the Beterbiev-Bivol fight than a boring affair where a guy resorts to clinching to save his skin.
If Bivol wants to be popular in the US and around the world, he should ignore what Bradley says because it sounds like he’s trying to turning him into Frankenstein’s monster version by Shakur Stevenson. There is no skin off Bradley’s teeth if Bivol is booed out of the arena on Saturday night due to excessive clinching, but it should matter to him.
“I think Bivol’s ring IQ, on-target punches, and his distance control. I think that will be the difference in this fight. The ropes are a concern for me. Bivol, sometimes, languishes against the ropes. She did this against Canelo. She was easily outmatched against Canelo against the ropes.
“At the end of the first round, those ropes were long. Canelo a pu lancer des coups mortels. You can’t afford to do that against a lethal puncher like Beterbiev. Everyone says Bivol can’t punch. Stop it. When you have timing and precision like Bivol has, it can put you behind.
“Also Beterbiev. He can get on his back because Beterbiev comes forward and his old momentum like lunges; if he is hit hard by some shots of Bivol, he can be hurt. Bivol is better technically because he has his feet with hands,” Bradley said.
“I don’t know. Eddie talks, but he’s a little heavier than me. He’s in another category. He needs to make weight and talk,” Beterbiev said about Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn trying to anger him. during today’s final press conference.
