Eddie Hearn says Artur Beterbiev looked “worn out” yesterday ahead of his fight against Dmitry Bivol this Saturday. Hearn feels that unified lightweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) is struggling at the weight, and may not be at his best this Saturday, October 12 in Riyadh.
(Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions)
“If you look back at the Gvozdyk fight, it was really close, but he almost survived and then he got knocked out,” Eddie Hearn told Queensberry about how Oleksandr Gvozdyk fought well against Artur Beterbiev until the tenth round and was eliminated.”
Gvozdyk was successful through the first eight rounds against Beterbiev because he used his power to land a lot of hard shots that impressed the judges and made Artur wary of attacking. Bivol doesn’t fight as hard as Gvozdyk, and he won’t be able to hold off even Beterbiev to build a big lead early.
“Beterbiev doesn’t do it too fast. Even against Callum Smith, he took his time,” Hearn said. “He’s still winning rounds, but it’s not like he’s out. It’s pressure, pressure, pressure, but I think Dmitry has the punch volume to win those early rounds. You’ve got to get out, and then you have to hold on for dear life,” Hearn said.
Bivol can win some of the first rounds, but he will be under a lot of pressure, and this will be tiring for him. He can’t move and take heavy hits for the first eight or nine rounds without gassing out from the pressure that is put on him.
“Dmitry says he can do 168. I looked at pictures of Beterbiev yesterday,” Hearn said. “He wasn’t too keen on getting down to his shorts. I thought he looked a bit worn out. Don’t get me wrong. He’s still an absolute monster, but at five days out, Dmitry is definitely more comfortable at the weight.”
Hearn could be playing mind games, hoping to get into Beterbiev’s head by planting the idea of him looking drained. I don’t think it will work, but that could be Hearn’s plan. He has to try every trick in the book to help Bivol win.
“Beterbiev talked about that move to cruiserweight, but he’s been at lightweight for a long time. So, for me, this is a guy who’s going to be a lot tighter at weight. I don’t think it’s going to make a difference massive, but I like the fact that Dmitry is so good at weight because he needs that engine. He’s going to need to throw a lot of punches here to keep Beterbiev out,” Hearn said.
The reason Beterbiev talked about wanting to move to cruiserweight is not because he has problems making weight at 175. He wants to go up to win more belts, and he can’t do that if he defeats the WBA champion Bivol on Saturday. Beterbiev will hold all the titles in the lightweight division, and there will be no more to get.
“Can he hurt Beterbiev? I know he stopped Zinad and stopped (Lyndon) Arthur. But for me, it’s about the volume, and the feet,” Hearn said.
Bivol could hurt Beterbiev if he was willing to stay in the pocket and unload his fist volume, But to do that, Bivol could be caught and knocked down. Bivol’s trainer isn’t going to take chances on having him take that strategy, and even if he tells him to do that, he’ll focus on staying out of range.
⏳ 3 days out with King Artur. #BeterbievBivol | OCT 12 6PM ET | @ESPNPlus | #Riyadh Season pic.twitter.com/emlZjLdVFM
– Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 10, 2024
