Eddie Hearn says Beterbiev looks exhausted

Eddie Hearn says Artur Beterbiev looked “exhausted” yesterday ahead of his fight against Dmitri Bivol this Saturday. Hearn feels that unified light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) is struggling at the weight, and he may not be at his best this Saturday, October 12, in Riyadh.

(Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions)

“If you look back at the Gvozdyk fight, it was very close but he almost survived and was taken out,” Eddie Hearn told Queensberry about how Oleksandr Gvozdyk fought well into the tenth round against Artur Beterbiev and was knocked out.”

Gvozdyk found success through the first eight rounds against Beterbiev because he used his power to land a lot of hard punches that impressed the judges and made Artur wary of attacking him. Bivol doesn’t hit as hard as Gvozdyk, and he won’t be able to hold off Beterbiev from building a big early lead either.

“Beterbiev doesn’t do too much early. Even against Callum Smith he took his time,” Hearn said. “He was still winning rounds, but it wasn’t like he was swinging away. It’s pressure, pressure, pressure, but I think Dmitri has the punch volume to win those early rounds. You have to cheer them up, and then you have to hold on for life,” Hearn said.

Bivol can win some of the early rounds, but he’s going to get a lot of pressure, and it’s going to be tiring for him. He can’t move and take heavy shots for the first eight or nine rounds without gassing from the pressure put on him.

“Dmitri says he can make 168. I looked at Beterbiev’s pictures yesterday,” Hearn said. “He wasn’t too keen on getting down to his shorts. I thought he looked a little worn out. Don’t get me wrong. He’s still an absolute monster, but at five days out, Dmitry is definitely more comfortable with the weight.”

Hearn may be playing mind games in hopes of getting into Beterbiev’s head by planting the idea that he looks exhausted. I don’t think it’s going to work, but that could be Hearn’s plan. He must try every trick in the book to help Bivol win.

“Beterbiev talked about that move to cruiserweight, but he’s been in light heavyweight for a long time. So, to me, that’s a guy that’s going to be a lot tougher on the weight. I don’t think it’s going to make a massive difference, but I like the fact that Dmitry is so good at the weight because he’s going to need that engine. He’s going to have to throw a lot of punches there to keep Beterbiev away,” Hearn said.

The reason Beterbiev has talked about wanting to move up to cruiserweight isn’t because he’s having trouble making weight at 175. He wants to move up to win more belts, and he can’t do that if he defeats WBA champion Bivol on Saturday. Beterbiev will hold all the titles in the light heavyweight division, and there will be no more to achieve.

“Can he hurt Beterbiev? I know he stopped Zinad and dropped (Lyndon) Arthur. But for me it’s about volume, and it’s about feet,” Hearn said.

Bivol can hurt Beterbiev if he is willing to stand in the pocket and unload his volume punches, but in order to do so, Bivol can be caught and knocked out. Bivol’s coach isn’t going to take chances by letting him follow that strategy, and even if he tells him to, he’ll focus on staying out of range.

⏳ 3 days out with King Artur. #BeterbievBivol | OCT 12 6PM ET | @ESPNplus | #Riyadh Season pic.twitter.com/emlZjLdVFM

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) October 10, 2024