Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol vs. Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev III

Good on him but the fact these two guys have effectively shut out the division for 2 years to have their own personal trilogy is ridiculous. It means Benavidez would have at best needed to wait 2 years to fight the top guy in the division. That is unheard of in boxing to make the top contender wait that long.

 

Bivol shut the division out. He holds all of the belts.

 

Key factors that decide the fight

Footwork: Bivol’s biggest advantage.
Age: Beterbiev is 41; Bivol is 35. Huge difference in a 12‑round chess match.
Defense: Bivol is the best defensive fighter Beterbiev has ever faced.
Power: Beterbiev is the hardest puncher Bivol has ever faced.
Ring IQ: Both elite, but Bivol’s is cleaner and more adaptable.

I have Bivol by decision, again

 

What is the point in this fight?

Bivol Beterbiev was good but no Canelo GGG. Beterbiev is just way too old now

 

The key component here is age. Beterbiev did look slower and his second fight with Bivol and I’m sure now that it’s a couple years later he will be much slower. While Bivol is also two years older and, in fact, his skill set relies more on athleticism and quickness than Artur’s does. I still see him winning this fight quite easily.
I chose Bivol by KO. In reality, I think it will just be a matter of the ref stopping the bout due to Beterbiev taking too many blows and too much damage.

 

The key component here is how fresh each guy is relatively speaking.

I think Beterbiev is gonna win this one, Bivol was noticably slower against Eiffert, and add elbow surgery on top of the back surgery as well, it could be a real issue for Bivol

Artur is a physical freak of nature, and I would NEVER bet against him, even at 42

That said inactivity could be a real issue for Beterbiev...

 

Bivol's manager was on a podcast yesterday talked extensively about his future. Beterbiev fight is far from done, lots of work to do. Complained that money offer from Benavidez was far less than Beterbiev trilogy which could still happen but looks like Callum smith is most likely in Decemeber which they have a date deserved for in Russia.

This content is protected

 

This will be about as exciting as the trilogy of Canelo and GGG

 

The inactivity is a huge factor. It'll be pretty much 2 years since Beterbiev's last fight by the time he gets back in the ring with Bivol.

Why he hasn't at least taken a stay busy fight during all this time is beyond me - 2 years of inactivity when you are over 40 is just ridiculous, especially when you are waiting to rematch an elite level opponent.

Bivol hasn't been super active by any means, but he had back surgery and still managed to squeeze a fight in. I don't know what Beterbiev and his team are thinking by just waiting for the trilogy and nothing else.

 

He was going to last fall, then he pulled out of it pretty late.

 

Bivol is one of them Burmese pythons.

Also I enjoy your dedication to teaching us every fighters middle name.

 

I really hate the way sporting authorities have slowly let Russia creep back in to hosting things, it's disgusting. And why? Nothing has changed. They haven't took a step back in the war, so why reward them? Just because some time has passed since the invasion? Got nothing against Russian fighters or any Russian sportsmen doing individual sports, but teams representing Russia should still be a no-no, and they definitely don't deserve the right to host title fights. But then what should I expect from a world that allows a nation like Saudi, who dismembers journalists in Turkish embassies, to take over sports?

Anyway, apart from that, I can't see anything other than a Bivol win. I don't like that we didn't get the third fight immediately... Beterbiev was already getting too old to be messing around. So what can he likely do to change now? I thought Bivol won both fights. As much as I was so glad we finally got these two in the ring together, it should have happened earlier. Same as Crawford-Spence. Oh what might have been.

 

Bivol KO is a brave shout. Feather-fisted as hell for the weight class.

 

I'd say Bivol by clear decision. The first fight was very close, but Bivol clearly won the second. The two know each other well by now. Bivol is five years younger and Beterbiev will turn 42 in January and hasn't fought in over a year, when he lost the rematch to Bivol. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another Canelo-GGG 3. The first fight between the two already came too late, in 2024, when both became world champions in 2017.

 

He looked slower because Bivol had a much better gameplan for the rematch. People have forgotten that the rematch happened a mere 4 months after the first; no boxer ages drastically in such a short time.
That being said, its now been well over a year since the rematch, and Beterbiev has not fought since. Hard to imagine age now being an issue here, especially with the inactivity.