Commentator Sergio Mora predicts a late arrest of Artur Beterbiev by Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night. Mora feels Beterbiev’s career is over after suffering a right knee injury five months ago in May, and he hasn’t had much time to come back from surgery. Even if he did, the meniscus injury he suffered can permanently affect a fighter’s career.
(Credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank)
Fans and media do not know the severity of Beterbiev’s knee injury. If he wasn’t a sever, that would explain why he was able to return to the ring so quickly. It is believed that Beterbiev was back in training in August, just three months after the injury.
“When you deal with the knee, you can almost kiss your career goodbye,” Sergio Mora told Chris Mannix. YouTube channel, talking about Artur Beterbiev’s recent knee injury. “I think Bivol will get a late arrest.
“I watched these two guys and I favored Bivol for a decision, but then I was watching how Bivol turned it on and stayed consistent with his attack.”
Bivol is not a knockout puncher, and it is unrealistic to assume he will score a stoppage against Beterbiev unless his knee is in bad shape. Fighting with only one good leg will affect Beterbiev’s power and ability to move.
“He didn’t turn it on against Lyndon Arthur,” Mannix said of Bivol’s cautious 12-round decision win over Lyndon last December.
“Smart fighters are good at going the distance and not getting hit. He’s too smart for his own good,” Mora said on Bivol. “Against Beterbiev, he’s not going to give him a chance to cross that finish line. Beterbiev would rather get knocked out in a big fight than lose a competitive decision. That’s why I think he’s going to be stopped; he’s got to throw something big from Bivol.
“I think Bivol is going to cut him with that jab. It’s going to be heavy hands versus fast feet, and I favor Bivol’s fast feet,” Mora said.
If Beterbiev’s scar tissue from his fight against Marcus Browne is vulnerable, it could be cut, as Mora predicts. However, if Beterbiev cuts himself, that could make him more dangerous because he was a different animal once he bled in the Browne fight.
New Yorker Browne is a much bigger puncher than Bivol, and he hit Beterbiev with hard shots early in that fight. But after Beterbiev over his right eye in the fourth round from an accidental clash of heads, he looked like an angry bull, walking through Browne’s formidable punches to land heavy shots to the head and body. In the ninth, Beterbiev knocked out Browne.
Bivol’s Footwork will be key
“It doesn’t matter if you can handle what he’s doing. If you take shots and get hurt, it changes the fight, and that can happen very quickly,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TVdiscussing the Beterbiev-Bivol fight.
“People think against these fighters with good footwork, ‘All you have to do is walk and drop your hands.’ It doesn’t work that way because they’ll pin you left, right and center, and they’ll get away in the corners,” Hearn said.
If Bivol moved like Shakur Stevenson, Beterbiev would have a lot of trouble landing, but fighting like that makes it difficult for Dmitry to land his shots. No one can fight like that and expect to land enough shots to win a clear decision and keep the crowd from drowning out of the arena.
Hearn’s “global superstar” fighter Shakur endures boobirds every time he fights, but he’s used to it. Bivol has never been booed before. So, he won’t be running away from Beterbiev the way Hearn envisions him continuing to take punishment.
“Dmitry’s footwork has to be knocked out in this fight. He said it the other day in an interview: ‘I’m going to win every time.’ You may win one or two along the way, but you have to keep fighting for turn. You hope to get to nine or ten, and you’re 8-2, and then you have two rounds to go,” Hearn said.
Bivol will eventually have to get into range, and that could be his problem. He won’t win a decision against Beterbiev by running around the ring for 12 rounds, trying to elude him. It’s not his style, and it never has been.
Bivol generally blends in with his opponents, scrambling to get a one-two using the classic Eastern European style and then backing off two or three feet. He will often stop to throw a jab if his opponents are chasing him. But even against the short 5’8″ Canelo Alvarez, Bivol was hit hard, and his face was swollen afterwards.
It was far from a shutout that Bivol pitched. He was tagged in that fight, and if Canelo can do that, it’s scary to think what Beterbiev will do.
