Artur Beterbiev says he expects his rematch with Dmitry Bivol to be a very different battle when they meet in a rematch on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) will defend his undisputed light heavyweight championship for the first time after capturing the last belt he needed to achieve that distinction against Bivol on Oct. 12 in a 12-round majority decision.
Rematch strategies
While Bivol says he needs to move more in the rematch than he did in the first fight, Beterbiev seems to be going in the other direction, suggesting he is more aggressive early on. Artur gave away a lot of the early rounds by not attacking Bivol.
Once Beterbiev did go on the attack, it was one-sided, with him chasing Bivol around the ring, nailing him with hard shots and dealing with his constant hitting. It was pretty clear that Dmitri didn’t have the fight in him when he was under attack.
Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), his promoter Eddie Hearn, and fans still believe he deserved the win based on his technical skills, but the judges saw it differently. They scored it 115-112, 116-112 for Beterbiev and 114-114.
“I think he is right. We already know how each of us fights. We saw each other,” Artur Beterbiev told the media, in response to the fact that Kostya Tszyu said that he expects his rematch with Dmitry Bivol to be a completely different kind of fight. “Obviously I think it will be a different battle.
“Some things can be fixed and improved. Well, his (Bivol) punches are those of a boxer. I probably won’t go up there,” Beterbiev said of a fight between him and Oleksandr Usyk. “From a sporting perspective I would be interested in that fight because we boxed in the Olympics (2012) and the World Championships.
“It will be interesting to try as professionals. Not for money, although money is nice. But my interest in this fight would be purely sporting. Much more than money.
Early aggression
There won’t be much difference in the rematch except that Beterbiev attacks immediately and moves Bivol in circles for three minutes of each round. Dmitri won’t try to fight because he got hurt the last time he tried, and he doesn’t have the strength or chin to fight Beterbiev. So, he’s going to try to win a decision by hitting and running.
“It’s surprising to me how he changes position,” Beterbiev said of Terence Crawford. “It’s amazing that he’s not a southpaw but can switch both sides. He even said he was doing some exercises he saw from me,” Beterbiev said.
