Dmitry Bivol wants to use more movement and friction in his rematch with Artur Beterbiev because he felt he didn’t use enough last Saturday night in his 12-round multiple decision loss.
Many fans felt that Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) was using too much movement, which is why he ultimately lost the fight; he wasn’t stopping long enough to throw punches from the 8th to the 12th round. Bivol seemed to tire from his constant movement, which made him a victim of Beterbiev in the last 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 talks about watching the Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler fight, and Ray was going the full 12 rounds. He would stop to throw combinations before moving again.
What Bivol failed to notice was that many boxing fans who watched the Leonard-Hagler fight felt that Hagler was disqualified by the judges because he hit big shots and that Leonard was just shining in his shoes with quick combinations that had little power.
Using the Leonard and Hagler fight as a blueprint to follow against Beterbiev at this point would be a mistake. Bivol doesn’t have Leonard’s honor of being awarded a gift decision against Beterbiev as many feel he did against Hagler.
“I want to improve my movement. I didn’t move enough. I have to move more and use more counter punches. I have to add more,” said Dmitry Bivol on Fight Hub TV about what he needs to do in the rematch with Artur Beterbiev to improve his game. “The plan was not just to stand in front of Beterbiev. Walk like Ray Leonard. “
If Bivol is going to imitate Leonard’s fighting style, he should focus on his other fights where he sat down with his fists and fought brutally. He is not fast enough to fight like Leonard did when he was alive. Bivol would be better off using the original Oscar De La Hoya as a backup in his rematch with Beterbiev. De La Hoya was on fire when he started his career. He was an attacking fighter, scoring a lot of goals.
“He has good conditioning. He was trying to take the last laps. This is what I don’t like. I didn’t do well these three rounds,” said Bivol about how he failed to let his hands go in the 10th, 11th, and 12th rounds.
“They said to me, ‘You have to move. You should throw your jab like you did before. Don’t stand in front of him. Don’t be a standing victim,’” Bivol said of what his corner told him before the 12th round.
In retrospect, Bivol went too far in the 12th round and gave it to Beterbiev. By fighting in line, Bivol had to fight with more violence.
“Sometimes I felt like I could do it, but I could do it [cautious],” said Bivol. “My plan was to move a lot because they were watching me a lot [Sugar] Ray Leonard’s fights before this fight. Leonard-Hagler. Throughout the 12 rounds, Leonard was moving.
“He stops, makes combinations, and moves again. He wasn’t standing with Hagler. If you stood up and fought Hagler, it makes no sense. You can’t fight a guy who is stronger than you.
“We have Beterbiev, we have to agree that he is a strong boxer in the light heavyweight category, but it does not mean that he is the best,” said Bivol.
Beterbiev beat Bivol, so that must mean he is “the best” in the division. Bivol saying that Beterbiev is not the best in the light heavyweight division implies that he thinks he is still better or that someone in the fighting division is better. Bivol did a good job of being humble after his loss, but his comment above about Beterbiev not being the best suggests that he’s not fully accepting his loss.
Source link
