Dmitry Bivol had a little time to watch and reflect on his loss to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday in the fight for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.
And he saw things he should have done differently. Not just in this fight. But also if he gets in the ring with Beterbiev again for a rematch.
“I want to improve my movement more. I don’t move enough.” Bivol said this in an interview with FightHub’s Marcos Villegas a day after suffering his first defeat.– “I feel like I need to move more. Respond further I just need to add more. I feel like there are moments when I can. But I’m a little careful.”
Both Beterbiev and Bivol felt they could do better.
As for Beterbiev, 21-0 (20 KOs) he still maintains his undefeated record. and added a fourth and final major world championship title to his collection. But he was hit long distance for the first time. And it has been a close decision that many feel can be achieved. go any way
As for Bivol, 23-1 (12 KO), he lost for the first time. Losing the world title he held for many years. and lost on the scorecard Even though he thought he had done enough to win.
Instead of making excuses, Bivol finds areas that may need improvement.
“I feel like I had a good episode. He has good episodes,” Bivol said, “but I don’t count how many episodes I’ve done. Is that enough to win? In my philosophy, I am a warrior and everything should be perfect. Everything I do I have to do well or not at all. I didn’t do very well in this battle. Sometimes that’s enough to win. Maybe it’s not enough. But I didn’t do it as perfectly as I wanted to.”
Especially the last 3 rounds of 12 matches.
The battle was on the fighting line at that time. But of course the fighter doesn’t know how the referee did it. Going into the 10th round, one judge had Bivol up 87-84, one judge had Bivol up 86-85, and one judge had Beterbiev ahead 86-85.
Beterbiev swept the final three rounds. This leaves us with final scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 if Bivol wins just one of those rounds. The fight would have been a draw: 115-113 for Bivol, 114-114 and 115-113 for Beterbiev had Bivol won those two rounds. The result was a majority in his favour.
Instead, Bivol epitomizes the cliche: He lets perfection be the enemy of good. He was waiting for the right opening from Beterbiev instead of Bivol, just opening up on his own offense. According to CompuBox, Beterbiev was 46 out of 205 in the final three rounds, while Bivol was only 38 out of 99 entries. Bivol was more accurate but less enthusiastic And the judges liked what Beterbiev threw, and they saw how clean and hard Beterbiev was when landing.
“I didn’t do all three rounds perfectly. I’m just trying to find the perfect moment,” Bivol said. “I’m trying but I can’t. I just have to do it. Not just waiting I just have to show But I didn’t do it. Maybe I wasn’t sure it was the right time. But time flies so fast to be honest. Every round for me takes about a minute.”
So Bivol knows what to do if the competition comes to fruition. But as he said Having a strategy is one thing. while implementation is another matter. Especially when facing a talented opponent.
“I already knew how to beat him, you know? And he knows how to beat me,” Bivol said. “But I think every fan in front of the TV They know how to beat him and how to beat me.” It was the easiest part to know. But the hardest part to do.”
David Greisman, who has been covering boxing since 2004, is on Twitter. @FightingWords2 and @United BoxingPod– He is a co-host of United Podcast– David’s bookFighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing” Available on Amazon
