Chris Algieri believes we could see Artur Beterbiev knocked down by WBA lightweight champion Dmitry Bivol on October 12. Algieri feels Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) has the power to put Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) at some point in their headline bout at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
It’s hard to imagine Bivol dropping the IBF, WBC and WBO champion Beterbiev when he couldn’t knock out Lyndon Arthur, Gilberto Ramirez, Canelo Alvarez, Craig Richards or Joe Smith.
If Bivol couldn’t knock out those fighters, it doesn’t seem realistic to assume he’ll be able to drop Beterbiev. Bivol doesn’t want to take the risk of sitting on his shots in front of Beterbiev and getting cut. That could happen either way, even with Bivol using his normal hit-and-run style.
“Don’t be surprised if Bivol hits Beterbiev square at some point during this fight, which should surprise everyone because you see a boxer putting the puncher on the mat,” said Chris Algieri to Probox TVdiscussing the possibility of Dmitry Bivol hitting Artur Beterbiev during their fight.
“We’ve seen Beterbiev before. We’ve seen Bivol do some really good knockdowns and knockouts. So, it wouldn’t be that strange to see this situation happen,” Algieri said.
The only real fall Beterbiev suffered was against Callum Johnson in 2018, but it wasn’t a bad one. He got up and knocked out Johnson in the next round. Earlier in his career, Beterbiev was dropped by Jeff Page Jr.
“Beterbiev is a very good boxer with a very deep amateur background, and we have seen his skills appear more recently as he has aged. I am not sure if it is because he is not as fierce as before. He must be more intelligent and more deceptive in his income,” said Algieri.
Beterbiev has been fighting with bigger punches recently than he had earlier in his career, and has had to be more careful defensively. If Beterbiev had fought guys like Callum Smith and Anthony Yarde earlier in his career, he would have been more cautious about attacking.
“We see him use his jab, close the distance, and get a lot better. Bivol is certainly not a puncher, but he can punch enough to get respect. Even in the Canelo fight, he was able to disarm an offensive machine in Canelo with his power, his punching ability, and his punching combination with the stiffness of his shots. This is a very complicated and nuanced fight,” said Algieri.
Canelo Alvarez was more bothered by the rapid-fire three-punch combinations that Bivol was throwing in his 2022 fight, and he didn’t have the size or power to make him pay. If Bivol was the same size as Canelo, he wouldn’t have been able to fight like that without getting knocked out because he was putting himself in danger against him due to being the much bigger guy.
“Talk about Bivol’s punching power. We’ve seen some sharp right hands. They surprise you with speed. They’re deceptive, and all of a sudden, you see his right hand landing, and guys get hurt,” said Paulie Malignaggi .
Bivol has good power in his right hand, but it’s not at the level of some of Beterbiev’s recent opponents. These former Beterbiev KO victims have better power than Bivol:
– Anthony Yarde
– Callum Smith
– Radivoje Kalajdzic
– Joe Smith Jr.
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk
– Callum Johnson
Bivol could be a better puncher if he wasn’t so focused on his in-and-out style. He is always thinking about his exit strategy and is not willing to stand still to load his shots like power punches. Maybe one reason for that is that Bivol has been hurt in the past, and he doesn’t want to take the chance of being tagged hard.
