Artur Beterbiev applies constant pressure on his opponents with his short power shots, which create mental stress and wear them down. Paulie Malignaggi wonders if the nonstop pressure Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) is putting on Dmitry Bivol will take away his will to win.
Even if Bivol doesn’t break mentally, the power of Beterbiev’s punches could take him sooner or later if he lands enough. The question is, can Bivol move for 12 rounds to avoid being cut by Beterbiev?
Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) has never shown signs of breaking under pressure, but he’s never fought anyone quite like Beterbiev. He has been with great punchers like Canelo Alvarez, Gilberto Ramirez and Joe Smith Jr. Those guys are not at Beterbiev’s level.
WBA lightweight champion Bivol and IBF, WBC and WBO champion Beterbiev will fight on October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All four titles will be in play in their headliner.
“This creates a mental stress that can pay off later. Even if you don’t land cleanly, you create mental stress, and you sort of take the sand from the hourglass. You see what your opponent has left behind,” he said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV on the pressure that Artur Beterbiev puts on his opponents.
Beterbiev’s last two opponents, Callum Smith and Anthony Yarde, had their moments early against him. They landed big shots that made Beterbiev cautious at times, but they didn’t stop him from attacking.
Yarde had more success due to his hand speed and the uppercuts he took on Beterbiev. However, Beterbiev took Yarde to the seventh, and was easily eliminated in the eighth. Bivol doesn’t have the same hand speed or power as Yarde, nor does his chin. So if Beterbiev can land the kind of power shots on Bivol that he did against Yarde, this fight won’t last more than four rounds.
“That’s what happened to Gvozdyk. He was doing well before. Beterbiev is able to take what he can take because he plays the positional game. He cuts you down; he keeps that mental stress on you. He hits you where he can eventually, he feels that he will pay, even if he is behind.
“That’s where he goes in the line of, is he going to land something? All he has to do is touch a little bit. It will create a mental stress,” said Malignaggi. “Beterbiev, we’ve seen him break his opponent’s will to win, and that’s the question mark here.
“Beterbiev is a little older, but Bivol also comes with the same determination and skills as Gvozdyk. He is long and able to have that in-and-out style, and it kind of problems Beterbiev if he doesn’t clear the position , and you can make them pay,” Malignaggi said.
Beterbiev never had trouble against fighters who used the in-out style that Bivol employs. In the fights of Beterbiev against Oleksandr Usyk in amateurs, he injured him, and it took him to the end of two of his fights. He had Usyk on the deck in 2011, and he hurt him in the 2012 Olympics. It was a three-round fight.
The fighters that Beterbiev had problems with where the powerful, that hit him with shots that made him cautious.
“Does Beterbiev have enough at 39 years old to remove the will to win against Bivol? Is it even possible?” said Malignaggi.
Beterbiev will not lose the will to win at Bivol. It will not happen, but he can still win with the injury. Malignaggi does not talk about Bivol’s chin problems and the way he looks nervous when he is hit hard by Malik Zinad and Lyndon Arthur. It doesn’t matter if Bivol’s will holds. If he can’t take the power shots that Beterbiev is going to throw at him, he’s going to go down like the previous 20 opponents that Artur has knocked out.
