Dmitry Bivol could be headed for career oblivion by going through with his promoter Eddie Hearn’s plans to steam straight into a rematch with Artur Beterbiev.
Hearn thinks Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) was rightfully victorious in his loss to IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) last Saturday night. He doesn’t 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 knocked out in the rematch with Beterbiev in 2025, his purses will likely drop from that point. Hearn would Bivol in a time-consuming, expensive rebuild, and who knows how long it will take.
If Hearn chooses to take a drunken gambler’s approach to bringing Dmitri back from a second loss to Beterbiev, he could throw him in with Joshua Buatsi, David Morrell or David Benavidez and hope he can claw his way to a decision win refined by his feet.
I don’t see it ending well for Bivol against any of those three, as they are excellent at cutting off the ring against runners, especially with those who have a chin problem and can’t stand and fight. Bivol would crumble against those three, even now. Morrell, Buatsi and Benavidez would be all over Bivol and wouldn’t show him the kind of respect that Beterbiev foolishly did.
Hearn feels he knows better than he does, and he’s ready to gamble with Bivol by sending him into a rematch with undisputed 175-lb champion Beterbiev. This could end badly for Bivol, with him being knocked out and his popularity greatly reduced.
It will be difficult for Bivol to bounce back from a second loss against Beterbiev as chances are high that he will be knocked out next time. Beterbiev has now figured out Bivol, knowing that he is timid, has little strength and cannot handle being stormed in large waves.
The mind of Bivol is strong, but the flesh is weak. He looked very fragile every time Beterbiev put it on him and chased him around the ring and nailed him with club shots to the head and breadbasket.
Bivol buckled every time Beterbiev attacked him relentlessly last Saturday night. He’s just lucky that Beterbiev didn’t storm the trenches from the start in the first round, because under those conditions he wouldn’t have made it to the twelfth round.
If he leaves well enough on his own, they can claim a moral victory by going 12 rounds with the monster Beterbiev and making it a close affair. It’s not a win, but he can live with it. He can continue to trumpet how Bivol earned a win over Beterbiev and use it as a promotional tool to generate interest in his fights.
“Of course he doesn’t think Artur won, but he’s not going to sit there if you let me kick and scream?” said Eddie Hearn Matchroom Boxingindicating that Dmitry Bivol does not believe that he really lost to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday.
I don’t think Bivol believes he really won. By looking at the way Bivol talked after the fight, he knew he fell apart during the second half of the match, and was close to being knocked out by Beterbiev.
“He knows he won that fight, but he’s not prepared to complain and whine. One thing he said was, ‘I can be so much better.’ I felt he boxed amazingly. It was a pound-for-pound great performance, but he felt he could do better. Hopefully he can rectify that in the rematch,” Hearn said of his hopes for Bivol.
Hearn can the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch, but he will regret it in the end. Beterbiev is too powerful and will not hesitate in the rematch to immediately tear into Bivol and rake him with power shots to make quick work of him.
Bivol’s career will be effectively over as a major player after a knockout loss to Beterbiev, and Hearn will have to figure out an exit strategy to save the remainder of his contract.
