On October 12, WBA and IBO World Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitriy Bivol will meet WBC, WBO, and IBF World Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev in a unification match. They were supposed to meet months ago, but an injury in training by Beterbiev postponed it.
Beterbiev has stopped all twenty of his opponents, 20-0, he is obviously the heavier puncher of the two with 20 stoppages. At 39, she is six years older than Bivol.
Beterbiev’s amateur record is unknown. It was reported at 102-13 and 295-5. He lost in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Bivol’s amateur record is 268-15 and has never competed in the Olympics, but has won two Russian national championships in 2012 and 2014.
Bivol turned pro, stopping eleven of his first thirteen opponents. He then won nine straight by decision before stopping his last opponent, Malik Zinad, 22-0, in June.
In 2012, Bivol was “Fighter of the Year” defeating then unified super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 57-1-2, in May and former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, 44-0, in November. Quite a success.
All of Bivol’s opponents had winning records. Beterbiev’s opponents had sixteen with four winless records. Bivol faced the best opponents in general.
This is a natural match-up of a boxer in Beterbiev and a boxer in Bivol regarding their records. Beterbiev was born in Russia and resides in Montreal, Canada. Bivol’s nationality is Russian, but he was born in Kyrgyzstan and resides in Indio, California.
This writer looks forward to this encounter and leans towards the young Bivol for decision. Beterbiev coming off an injury is a big factor.
I wonder if Bivol’s punching power is underrated. Being that his opponents in the second half of his career are much better than Beterbiev may have something to do with it. What do readers and fans think?
