Artur Beterbiev is 44 days away from his rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22 in Riyadh.
The undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) wants to close the chapter in his rivalry with Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) a second time. He will do it in a way that won’t make fans and his promoter complain like they did 24/7.
No more errors
The February 22nd event will be shown live on DAZN PPV. Several of the undercard fights are arguably better than the main event.
Beterbiev’s 12-round majority decision victory over Bivol in their fight on October 12 last year was not decisive enough to satisfy fans to allow him to move on to bigger and better things against more popular fighters.
As such, Artur is stuck doing it again, but this time he’s expected to attack Bivol relentlessly and chase him around to get the knockout. Beterbiev’s mistakes in his fight with Bivol made it closer than it should have been.
Bivol angered Beterbiev in the seventh round when he unleashed a four punch combination. He tried to do what he did against Artur Canelo Alvarez. This awakened Beterbiev’s competitive spirit and the disrespect shown to Bivol, and he pursued him from then on.
Can Bivol stand and deliver?
When Artur finally began to relentlessly pressure Bivol, it was one-sided. Dmitri looked scared out of his mind and unable to stand and fight. That was the interesting part. Bivol has been less courageous than some of Beterbiev’s recent opponents, such as Anthony Yarde and Callum Smith.
Both of those guys came to fight and tried to knock Beterbiev out. We didn’t see that from Bivol, who fought scared the entire second half and made the fight boring to watch. It was identical to how Dmitry fought Lyndon Arthur in his match after being hurt by him in the championship rounds. Bivol wanted no part in fighting Arthur after being clipped.
Beterbiev’s mistakes
- Start slowly: He didn’t go on the attack until the sixth round, by which time Bivol had banked much of the first five rounds. Some believe he did enough to win all five before Beterbiev began to turn the heat on him.
- Give Bivol too much respect: Artur seemed concerned that Bivol’s fast combinations would be hit in the first five rounds.
“There is a saying. “It’s cold and lonely up there.” I’m not upstairs. I walk the earth. I’m not lonely,” Artur Beterbiev told DAZN Boxing. “All my fans with me. Close and native people.”
Rain or snow the champion is 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗡𝗮 💪#BeterbievBivol2 | #Riyadh Season | Feb 22, live on DAZN | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/ger97OJdgi
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 9, 2025
