Artur Beterbiev Vs. Dmitrii Bivol 2; Who Wins?

I prefer Beterbiev and I am not certain he won that fight. I did score it for him originally, but I was also willing him on so there will be some bias. The consensus view is Bivol should have won on points

Now unless Artur has aged overnight? I agree with others that Bivol can't really improve much on that performance. I expect Bivol to control the get go, but Artur will break him down and dramatically stop him in the championship rounds and then we can really place him high All time!

 

I'm not far from 41 and can ensure any younger ones that the body can't define time. Granted I am not a professional athlete, but the rules still apply, as top athlete's face others younger

I follow tennis and we are now starting to see this with Novak, as we seen with Roger and Rafa

I still think Artur has enough to fight at the top, but his time is ticking dramatically.

 

All good, but what I mean't he's not close to 45, he just turned 40. It's not mid 40s.

 

This is true, 40 is not 45

 

When you are at the super elite level like these guys, more often than not it comes down to heart and mentality + adjustments.

I am not saying Beterbiev has less nor am I saying Bivol is stronger mentally.

Nor do I agree with the notion about Beterbiev's age.

What I do believe is from the information these 2 have gathered from eachother, Bivol has much more room to adjust.

Beterbiev now knows Bivol isn't scared to fight on the front foot. Bivol also knows what type of power to expect. Very high boxing IQ also (much much higher than Beterbiev. Beterbiev lowkey has crap punch selection, if he had a better ounch selection I'd put him over RJJ as the goat lhw)

Bivol can fight any style he wants. Can Beterbiev? He only knew how to put fools out. He failed that vs Bivol. How much adjustments can he make at 40? He's been boxing the same style for 3 decades.

Expect the first 6 rounds youve seen in the first fight to last the full 12 rounds the second time around

 

I think Beterbiev figured him out in those last 3 rounds. Wouldn’t be surprised if he stopped him next time.

 

The main thing Bivol needs to change up is looking for the perfect shot - whilst his efficiency was really good, it meant there was periods where he was allowing Beterbiev to get off more appearing more passive.

He needs to be looking at round 9, where he let his hands go more and disrupted Arturs rythym.

That said, Beterbiev is relentless and excellent at cutting off the ring, and he might do that much earlier in the rematch.

One other thing that I feel was a factor in the first, was that even the Bivol started well, I think he was consuming a lot of nervous energy, and I feel that was a factor in he tank being more depleted than normal - though Artur gets most of the credit there for mpushing Bivol back and winning the distance / tempo battle in the last 3 rounds.

Both fighters did not go to the body much, and I think that is big key for the rematch - if Bivol can invest in the body early it might pay dividends and slow Beterbiev down later in the fight. By the same token, if Beterbiev can get body work in it will make Bivol passive again and create openings upstairs.

Really looking forward to see what gameplans they bring!

 

The problem is that Bivol has no power so he can only win by decision. But Beterbiev got gifted the decision, which should be hard mentally for Bivol

 

If he was sensitive. He strikes me as a person who is incredibly hard on himself and finds ways to make things work.

If he can make it through training camp and come up with a game plan (come forward, don't be scared, which worked) fresh off of a publicized divorce with a crazy woman, who is also talking to the media and telling Beterbiev Bivol's injuries in depth to his opponent, who Bivol has no idea what type of power to expect asides from the whole world telling him to be cautious;

I don't think this loss will.affect him at all. If anything, thete is a higher chance it will unleash something within him to take himself to the next level rather than a weaker performance due to mental weakness. We're talking about Bivol, who took the 'loss' on the chin and gave 0 excuses. Not someone like Conor Mcgregor, Fury, or Wilder who blames everything else from judges to costumes after a loss.

 

Bivol by 3 rds.

 

It wasn't a gift

It depends on how you scored the fight

The same judge that gave Beterbiev 8-4 rounds is the same judge that gave Bivol 9-3 against Zurdo; so that's a judge who clearly favoured high output and aggression.

Furthermore, Bivol CLEARLY faded in the championship rounds so that creates an impression also with judges too.

Anyone still crying robbery, I urge you to rewatch the fight a second or even a third time so rescore it.

 

I’m not hoping one way or the other, it’s what I see as most likely outcome if I was making a bet.