Artur Beterbiev says his team has made some changes to his training and hopes to be at least 10% improved for his rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22 in Riyadh.
Undisputed lightweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) wouldn’t reveal what areas he has improved, but reckons it will be enough to make the fight more exciting.
10% better
The look on Beterbiev’s face during interviews this week suggests he will relentlessly attack Bivol and force him to either fight or go. The last time, Bivol ran away, which saved him from the cliff, but again cost him the match. He was very focused on survival.
I suspect that will be his main focus this time once he starts to feel the heat from Beterbiev. Bivol is a good fighter when he isn’t facing anything coming back at him. But when his opponents throw, he bombs or retreats. He always fought like this.
“We changed some things in training. I hope to be better in this race than in the first race,” said Artur Beterbiev talkSport Boxing for his rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22. “Before I was undisputed, I wanted to get a fourth belt. Now, I want to keep them.
“If I get any offers on this thing, I’ll look at them. So far, I’ve only had one rematch offer and I’ve accepted it,” Beterbiev said when asked if he would be open to moving up to cruiserweight after that to fight.
“I can accept any fight if I have different offers. I will check with my team and take it,” Beterbiev said when asked if he would be interested in fighting Canelo Alvarez or Jai Opetaia if he beats Bivol.
“28,” Beterbiev said when asked how old he is.
Bivol’s Tactics
He’s too old at 34 to change now and the only thing he can do differently in the rematch is hold more. That’s what many fighters say he should have done last time. This is where we’ll likely see more of Bivol to neutralize Beterbiev’s attack.
Last time out, Beterbiev got off to a slow start, letting Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) win the first quarter of the fight with his jab and quick left-right combinations.
Beterbiev started to look like his usual self midway through the fight. Bivol had grown in confidence and showed no respect for Artur as he had done in his recent fights against Malik Zinad, Lyndon Arthur and Gilberto Ramirez.
Clearly, Bivol misjudged Beterbiev and paid the price because he took the fight from the sixth round and never looked back. The scores were 115-113, 116-112 for Beterbiev and 114-114.
Interestingly, many fans and fighters are pulling for Bivol to win the fight. They believe he had done enough to win the first race, even admitting that he didn’t seem to win a single round by the sixth. They still think he won. It didn’t look like Bivol won.
For Bivol to win, he will need to fight with more aggression as Beterbiev will put more pressure on him this time around. The judges favored Artur’s aggressive style in Bivol’s retreat.
“If I have a chance for 10%, I will be much better,” Beterbiev said Queensberry Deals about how much improvement would make him happy for his rematch with Bivol. “I can’t tell you. You will tell Bivol. I know you’re talking about me at Bivol,” Beterbiev said when asked what areas he wants to improve.
“I hope and believe that it will be a more interesting match than the first one, because now we know each other,” Beterbiev said about the rematch with Bivol.
