Hearns (Hill fight) vs Bivol

Ramirez is a pressure fighter. The rest aren't on Hearns level. I favor Bivol to stop Hearns late in the fight but this would not be easy at all, Bivol will struggle and be forced to fight aggressively

 

I think it would be a close and technical fight that I'll lean a bit towards Bivol. But to me, when Tommy was at his best at 175 when he beat Dennis Andries, that version I think would beat Bivol clearer.

 

On the contrary I think Hearns would expose Bivol for what he is. A Russian/Soviet style amateur boxer. Hearns pure boxing skills far surpass what Bivol is capable of

 

What's wrong with that style of boxers? They seem to be doing well in the modern day and he showed he can deal with a tough boxer with a more "pro" style in Beterbiev and even Canelo.

I disagree

 

Its an amateur style of boxing. It wouldn't work against a man of Hearns caliber

 

Why not? Its worked against plenty of very good LHWs some of which had a decent size advantage over Bivol. Especially with the size advantage Bivol would have and the fact he hits hard enough to trouble Hearns I would say.

 

Nobody Bivol has fought has the skillset of Hearns.

 

But he also never lost to a fighter on the level of Barkley and I don't think Hearns would have been able to beat Beterbiev at all. Canelo and Rameriz also would have been tough fights for him so it seems to go both ways.

 

Hearns isn;t beating Beterbiev but that has to do with Hearns not being especially durable and Beterbiev being a big hitter.

Hearns is a tough match up for Bivol. Hearns is more than durable enough to handle Bivol's power and his jab and fast hands will cause Bivol a lot of trouble. Not sure who i would pick to win though.

 

Nothing to do about Barkley Beterbiev or Ramirez. This is about Bivols old Soviet amateur style against Hearns. Styles make fights. I dont have to tell you that

 

Personally I find the Zinad and Arthur fights telling in a stylistic sense. Bivol struggled in his approach to the awkward rangy Zinad and was at one point seriously hurt by a body shot from Arthur. It's a stylistic issue. Soviet fighters have an issue punching with the other fighter - it's the same reason Loma lost to Lopez. They prefer to take it in turns when engaging and simply disengage when there's return fire, which is a recipe for disaster against Hearns who has a good argument as never being 'outboxed' on film. Add to the fact that dogging a fighter doesn't really come natural to Bivol.

I think it's a competitive fight but Hearns takes it imo. I was initially favouring Bivol as well, but again I don't think the styles mesh well for him. For reference I think Beterbiev sparks Hearns.

 

Sure but why would Bivol style be bad against Hearns I'm trying to understand the logic here when he's proven it works very well in the pros.

 

I really don't see what you guys see in those fights where Bivol dominated and didn't lose a single round especially when he fought other rangy fighters and dominated them as well like Umar and Barrera

 

It's more the stylistic issue than the actual rounds won themselves. Bivol was absolutely having some troubles with Zinad and Arthur (who again actually hurt Bivol to the body with a single shot), how they held range and didn't let Bivol respond in a reactive fashion as he does to aggressive boxers. Fighters can have stylistic issues whilst still being in an overall higher class to the opponent. Personally, I didn't find Bivol's performance against Zinad or Arthur that impressive and he definitely looked awkward at points. The difference is that Hearns is in a higher class than either of these in terms of boxing and his proven performances. Again, that reactive Soviet style is a horrendous strategy against Hearns - it gives Hearns too much time to work and rest as he needs / wants. You have to actually punch with Hearns and have a dogfight to beat him.

 

Even if that's true (which personally I don't think he did) I would say Hearns struggled even more with Hill (losing 3-4 rounds overall more then Bivol lost to either guy you say he struggled with combined) till he found his timing and Hill got tentative because of Hearns power and his inability to hurt Hearns. I don't think Bivol would have those same issues as Hill he's shown he's much better under pressure and seems to have decent power more then enough to hurt Hearns imo.