Dmitry Bivol could be headed for career oblivion by going through with his promoter Eddie Hearn’s plans to slide straight into a rematch with Artur Beterbiev.
Hearn thinks Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) got the better of Saturday night in his loss to IBF, WBC and WBO lightweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs). Never mind that the three professional judges who worked the fight didn’t think Bivol did enough to win.
Bivol’s career will be in the mud
If Bivol is eliminated in the rematch with Beterbiev in 2025, his purses will likely drop from that point. Hearn would put Bivol in a time consuming, expensive reconstruction, and who knows how long it will last.
If Hearn chooses to take a drunken gambler’s approach to bringing Dmitry back from a second loss to Beterbiev, he could throw in Joshua Buatsi, David Morrell, or David Benavidez and hope he can grind his way to a decision win with his foot
I don’t see it ending well for Bivol against any of those three because they are excellent at cutting the ring against runners, especially with those who have a chin problem and can’t stand and fight. Bivol collapsed against those three, even now. Morrell, Buatsi and Benavidez will be all over Bivol and not show him the kind of respect Beterbiev has stupid.
Hearn feels he knows better than him, and is ready to toy with Bivol by sending him into a rematch with the undisputed 175lb champion Beterbiev. That could end badly for Bivol, with him getting busted and his popularity dropping a lot.
It would be difficult for Bivol to come back from a second defeat against Beterbiev, because the chances are that he will be eliminated next time. Beterbiev understood Bivol now, knowing that he is shy, has little power, and cannot handle being assaulted in huge waves.
Bivol’s mind is strong, but the flesh is weak. He looked very fragile whenever Beterbiev put him on top of him and chased him around the ring, hooking him with truncheons to the head and the breadbasket.
Bivol bowed every time Beterbiev attacked him relentlessly on Saturday night. It is lucky that Beterbiev did not storm the trenches from the start of the first round, because he would not have reached the twelfth round under these conditions.
If it went well enough alone, they could claim a moral victory by going 12 rounds with the monster Beterbiev and making it a close deal. It’s not a win, but he can live with it. He can continue to trumpet how Bivol deserved a win over Beterbiev and use it as a promotional tool to create interest in his fights.
“Of course you don’t think Artur won, but aren’t you going to sit back while you kick and scream at me?” Eddie Hearn said Matchroom Boxingwhich indicates that Dmitry Bivol does not really believe he lost to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday.
I don’t think Bivol believes he really won. Looking at the way Bivol talked after the fight, I knew he had collapsed during the second half of the contest, and was close to being knocked out by Beterbiev.
“He knows he won that fight, but he’s not prepared to complain and complain. One thing he said was, ‘I could have been a lot better.’ I felt he boxed amazingly. It was a great pound-for-pound performance, but I felt who could do better. I hope he can put it right in the rematch,” said Hearn about his hopes for Bivol.
Hearn can make the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch, but he’ll regret it in the end. Beterbiev is too powerful and won’t hesitate in the rematch to immediately knock Bivol down, raking him with power shots to make quick work of him.
Bivol’s career will effectively be over as a major player after a KO loss to Beterbiev, and Hearn will have to figure out an exit strategy to salvage the remainder of his contract.
