Dmitry Bivol wants to use more movement and counter-punching in the rematch with Artur Beterbiev because he felt he didn’t use enough last Saturday night in his 12-round majority decision loss.
Many fans felt that Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) used too much movement, which is why he ultimately lost the fight; he wasn’t stopped long enough to throw punches from rounds 8 through 12. Bivol looked tired from his constant movement, which made him easy prey for Beterbiev in the last five rounds.
Bivol Influenced by Sugar Ray
Dmitry Bivol says he watched some of Sugar Ray Leonard’s old fights before the Beterbiev fight. He mentions watching Leonard’s fight against Marvin Hagler, and Ray went all 12 rounds. He would stop to throw combinations before moving again.
What Bivol fails to note is that many boxing fans who watched the Leonard-Hagler fight felt that Hagler was robbed by the judges because he landed the bigger shots and that Leonard was just polished with quick combinations that had little power. .
Using Leonard’s fight against Hagler as a blueprint to follow up against Beterbiev in this era was a mistake. Bivol lacks the popularity of Leonard to be given a gift decision against Beterbiev as many feel he had against Hagler.
“I want to improve my movement. I don’t move enough. I have to move more and use more counter-punches. I just have to add more,” said Dmitry Bivol to Fight Hub TV about what to do for the rematch with Artur Beterbiev to improve his game. “The tactic was not right in front of Beterbiev. He moved like Ray Leonard.
If Bivol is going to imitate Leonard’s approach to fighting, he should focus on some of his fights where he was sitting on his punches more and fighting with more aggression. He’s not fast enough to fight like Leonard did in his prime. Bivol would be better off using a prime Oscar De La Hoya as someone to copy for his rematch with Beterbiev. De La Hoya was blazing when he started his career. He was an offensive fighter, scoring many knockouts.
“He has a good condition. He tried to take the last rounds. This is what I don’t like. I didn’t do these three perfect rounds,” said Bivol about how he failed to leave his hands in the rounds 10, 11 and 12.
“They were telling me, ‘You have to move. You should throw your jab like you did before. Don’t stand in front of him. Don’t be a permanent target,” Bivol said about what his corner told him before the 12th round.
In retrospect, Bivol moved too much in the 12th round and gave it to Beterbiev. With the fight on the line, Bivol should fight more aggressively.
“I felt at times, I could do it, but I was (cautious),” Bivol said. “My plan was to move a lot because I watched a lot of (Sugar) Ray Leonard’s fights before this fight. Leonard-Hagler. In all 12 rounds, Leonard was moving.
“He would stop, make combinations, and then move again. He wasn’t with Hagler. If he stops and fights with Hagler, it’s not reasonable. You can’t fight against a man who is stronger than you
“With Beterbiev, we must agree that he is the strongest puncher in the lightweight division, but it does not mean that he is the best,” said Bivol.
Beterbiev beat Bivol, so that should mean he’s the “best” in the division. Bivol saying that Beterbiev is not the best in the lightweight division suggests that he either thinks he is still better or thinks that someone else in the fighting class is. Bivol did a good job of being humble after his defeat, but his comment above that Beterbiev is not the best suggests that he has not fully accepted his loss.
