Artur Beterbiev says he expects his rematch with Dmitry Bivol to be a very different fight when they meet in their 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 winning the last belt he needed to earn that title against Buffalo on Oct. 12 via a 12-round majority decision.
Rematch strategies
While Bivol says he should move more in the rematch than in the first fight, Beterbiev seems to be going the other way, hinting that he will be more aggressive early on. Arthur gave up many early rounds by not attacking Bivol.
Once Beterbiev went on the offensive, he was one-sided, chasing Bivol around the ring, nailing him with powerful punches and dealing with his constant hold. It was pretty obvious that Dmitri had no fight in him when he was attacked.
Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), his promoter Eddie Hearn and the fans still believe he deserved the win based on his technical skills, but the judges saw it differently. They scored 115-112, 116-112 for Beterbiev and 114-114.
“I think he’s right.” We already know how each of us struggles. We’ve seen each other,” Artur Beterbiyev told the media, reacting to Kostya Tzu saying he expects his rematch with Dmitri Bivol to be a completely different kind of fight. “I think, of course, that it will be another fight.
“Some things can be corrected and improved.” Well, his (Bivolski’s) punches are boxing. “I probably won’t move up,” Beterbiev said about the fight between him and Aleksandr Usyk. “From a sporting perspective, I would be interested in that fight because we’ve boxed in the Olympics (2012) and the World Championships.”
“It would 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 will attack immediately and Bivol will move in circles for three minutes each round. Dmitri won’t bother to fight because he was injured when he tried last time, and he doesn’t have the strength or the beard to fight Beterbyev. So he will try to get a decision by hitting and running.
“It surprises me how he changes attitudes,” Beterbiev said of Terence Crawford. “It’s amazing that he’s not a southpaw, but he can switch both ways.” “He even said he was doing some exercises he saw from me,” Beterbiev said.
