Dmitry Bivol wants to use more movement and counter punches in the rematch with Artur Beterbiev because he felt he didn’t use enough in his 12-round majority decision loss last Saturday night.
Many fans felt that Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) used too much movement, which is why he ended up losing the fight; he didn’t stop long enough to throw punches from rounds 8 to 12. Bivol appeared to tire of his constant movement, which made him easy prey for Beterbiev in the final five rounds.
Bivol Influenced by Sugar Ray
Dmitry Bivol says he watched some of Sugar Ray Leonard’s old fights before the Beterbiev fight. He mentions that he watched Leonard’s fight against Marvin Hagler, and Ray moved the full 12 rounds. He will stop throwing combos before moving again.
What Bivol fails to note is that many boxing fans who watched the Leonard-Hagler fight felt that Hagler was robbed by the judges because he landed the bigger shots and that Leonard just flashed quick combinations that lacked power have.
Using Leonard’s fight against Hagler as a blueprint to follow against Beterbiev in this era was a mistake. Bivol doesn’t have Leonard’s popularity to get a gift decision against Beterbiev like many felt he got against Hagler.
“I want to improve my movement. I didn’t move enough. I need to move more and use more counter punches. I just need to add more,” said Dmitry Bivol Fight Hub TV about what he needs to do for the rematch with Artur Beterbiev to improve his game. “The tactic was not just to stand in front of Beterbiev. Move like Ray Leonard.”
If Bivol is going to emulate Leonard’s approach to fighting, he needs to focus on some of his fights where he put more on his punches and fought with more aggression. He is not fast enough to fight like Leonard in his prime. Bivol would be better off using an early Oscar De La Hoya as someone to copy for his rematch with Beterbiev. De La Hoya was lightning fast when he started his career. He was an attacking fighter and scored many knockouts.
“He has good conditioning. He tried to take the last laps. That’s what I don’t like. I didn’t do these three rounds perfectly,” said Bivol about how he didn’t let his hands go in rounds 10, 11 and 12.
“They told me: ‘You have to move. You must cast your jab as you did before. Don’t stand in front of him. Don’t be a standing target,” Bivol said of what his corner told him before the 12th round.
In hindsight, Bivol moved too much in the 12th round and gave it away to Beterbiev. With the fight on the line, Bivol should have fought with more aggression.
“At moments I felt I could do it, but I was (cautious),” said Bivol. “My plan was to move a lot because I watched a lot of (Sugar) Ray Leonard’s fights before this fight. Leonard-Hagler. In all 12 rounds, Leonard moved.
“He would stop, do combinations and then move again. He did not stand with Hagler. If he stood and fought with Hagler, that’s not reasonable. You can’t fight a guy who’s stronger than you.
“With Beterbiev, we have to agree that he is the strongest puncher in the light heavyweight division, but that does not mean that he is the best,” says Bivol.
Beterbiev beat Bivol, so that should mean he is the “best” in the division. Bivol saying that Beterbiev isn’t the best in the light heavyweight division suggests that he either thinks he’s still better or thinks someone else is in the fighting class. Bivol did a good job of being humble after his loss, but his comment above about Beterbiev not being the best suggests he hasn’t fully accepted his loss.
