Bivol had his high guard up the whole fight, leaving his body exposed. Beterbiev was clubbing away at his gloves and arms while his body was exposed. It seems to me like he could have started early with a consistent body attack and won more convincingly. Neither he or his corner thought to make the adjustment, so maybe I'm missing something?
Artur did some decent bodywork, although not as much as normal - I think that was because - specially in rounds 2 & 3, he was being countered hard when he went to the body. He had some great digs in rounds 10-12 though and those may have had a lot to bear on Dmitry's low output and workrate in those rounds.
Yes, the first right hook to the body that he landed was brutal, this said I don't think he saw the opportunities to throw the straight right to the body since bivol was too focused and winning the mid range dominantly for the first 4 rounds, Bivol just cracked him harder than gvozdik ever did and was far more mobile to either punish the body up close and too sharp not to throw back at artur should he miss that straight to the body by an inch
I saw every time Beterbiev was landing on the body, Bivol was folding and moving very fast to avoid following punches, it was clearly working and I would like to see more bodyshots from him
Yes absolutely I thought the body shots were always available to him as Bivol held his guard very high so the body was wide open. Anytime Beterbiev went to the body he had some effect on Bivol, but we also have to give Bivol some credit as he moved very well and made it very tough for Beterbiev to set up his punches early on.
I thought that was what was going to stop DB to be honest but he couldn't get it going, the jab was bothering him.
