Dmitry Bivol: A Kold Wind Blows From Kyrgyzstan-The Light Heavyweight Tokmok Buffalo.

lol I'm going to check his channel to see if I can find out if he picked Bivol to lose.

 

Bivol put Barrera on his horizontal list lol.

 

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(Los Angeles, California) - Just four years after making his professional debut,WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs) of Russia finds himself with a problem unique to formidable champions: finding worthy opponents willing to go up against him.

Fortunately, light heavyweight contender Isaac "Golden Boy" Chilemba (25-5-2, 10 KOs) of Malawi stepped up to the challenge. Bivol and Chilemba will fight in the co-main event on the Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev vs. Eleider "Storm" Alvarez card at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on Saturday, August 4. The doubleheader will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

"I respect him," said Bivol of Chilemba. "He took this fight. He fought against the big guys in the division like Kovalev and Alvarez. Both times he fought all 12 rounds. He has good experience. I think he's stronger than he was one year ago. Sometimes this (a loss) makes you better," said Bivol.

Bivol relishes the challenge, especially because finding worthy opponents is becoming more difficult as he racks up one impressive performance after another, seemingly with ease. And he's only improving.

"After every fight, you learn something. I hope I will be stronger this fight," said Bivol, who is coming off a 12th rough TKO win over Sullivan Barrera, handing the Cuban his first career loss. " Every time we're working in the gym on a stronger fight, on my stronger side. I don't think about my opponent's weak side, I think about my strengths, every time."

Bivol's manager, Vadim Kornilov, says Bivol was already a complete fighter when he turned professional after an accomplished amateur career. "The last ten fights have given him the confidence to face any of the top fighters. I think a lot of the others are already not interested in fighting him, not as interested as they are showing. It's the problem every top world fighter has.

"Many people already know Dmitry Bivol is one of the top pound-for-pound prospects in boxing today. He doesn't like to show off and be flashy. That's how his parents raised him. But at the end of the day, Dmitry Bivol will prove he's one of the top pound for pound fighters. He doesn't like to talk about it; he will show it in the ring. In a little bit of time, the fans will be able to see it."

Nevertheless, Kornilov is confident Bivol's promoters, World of Boxing and Main Events, can make the big fights happen, even if potential opponents and their promoters are afraid of him. Bivol says his dream is to be an undisputed champion. "I think in the next year, he will take bigger steps toward that goal," said Kornilov.

Bivol says his confidence is growing, but at the same time, his level of responsibility is growing after every fight - especially the motivation to take care of his young family. For the first time, Bivol's wife and two young children joined him for the first few weeks of training camp in Oxnard, which helped him avoid being homesick while spending several months apart in St. Petersburg, Russia and Oxnard, California.

"Of course, it's helped me," said Bivol. "When my family is with me, I can see my kids and my wife, and she can make favorite meals. They are here three weeks and then go home. I'm happy they've seen America." Bivol's son Miron, age three and a half, loves the water whether it is a swimming pool or the beach. "He likes California. When he went to LA, he asks every time, 'Are there any pools?'

"They are my motivation. They motivate me. I think about why I love them, that's why I'm working so hard. I work hard to support them, so they will see how I feel," said Bivol.

Bivol says one of the side benefits of boxing is the opportunity to see the world, including Atlantic City. "I'm glad when I fight in a new city, one I've never been to ... I'm blessed to be in Atlantic City, in a most famous area for boxing. I'm glad people from Atlantic City will see my fight. I hope they enjoy it."

Speaking of the next generation of 175 pounder potential stars. An in-depth Josh Buatsi interview

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Dmitry Bivol, the current reigning WBA light heavyweight champion (who faces Isaac Chilemba tomorrow night in Atlantic City) has one of the most interesting backgrounds in all of boxing. Born to a Korean mother and a Moldovan father, Bivol born in Kyrgyzstan.



He now currently resides in St. Petersburg, Russia.



However as he prepares for fights, Bivol’s boxing home is in Los Angeles, where he will go to various gyms around the Southland. He regularly drops by the famed Wild Card Boxing Club, in Hollywood, and Legendz Boxing in Norwalk, on the days when he spars.



During an in-studio visit to “The 3 Knockdown Rule,” with Mario Lopez and Yours Truly, he stated, “I like being in L.A. because I like summer weather; all day summer is here. And of course I like the training camp here because there are a lot of sparring partners.



”L.A. is second home.”



He’s been coming to this region for a few years.



“First time I went to L.A. was 2014 and, in the year, I’m here six months, maybe,” Bivol said in his ever-improving English. (Russian is his native tongue.)



Bivol, 13-0 (11), initially came to the United States and California at the behest of manager Vadim Kornilov, who wanted to get a firsthand look at the highly decorated amateur before signing him. “I was told initially that he’s a special kid; he had power and he was great,” said Kornilov, who accompanied his boxer in-studio. “He came to Los Angeles in 2014 with his trainer, and his teammate Sergey Kuzmin (now a 12-0 (9) heavyweight). He came for a month just to meet.



“All of the fighters that we have signed, initially we just ask them to come because they need to meet us. We need to meet them, and just see if we even like each other in the first place. But when (Bivol) started sparring at Wild Card, everybody saw it; it wasn’t just me.”



It was clear that Bivol was the goods.



“There was no training camp; it was just to get some guys to spar with him, and when I see guys in sparring and the other guy doesn’t want to continue, then I know this is going to be something special. This is that type of kid,” said Kornilov, whose first big-name client was another Russian, Ruslan Provodnikov.



A few months later Bivol says he made the decision to turn professional, and he stopped Jorge Rodriguez Olivera in six rounds, on November 28, 2014 in Moscow, where he was immediately put on the fast track by his handlers. Bivol actually fought his fourth and sixth fights at the O.C. Hangar, in Costa Mesa. Then beginning with the April 2017 stoppage of Samuel Clarkson, on “ShoBox,” at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, he has been a staple of the American boxing scene, and HBO (on which tonight’s bout against Chilemba is being broadcast from Atlantic City, New Jersey).



WBO light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev (who faces Eleider Alvarez as the feature performer on HBO) and WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who paved the way for Bivol in the States, made the decision to call America home. As for Bivol, he says, “I think sometimes about this. It’s too hard for me because I have my parents in Russia, my grandmother, a lot of family in Russia.”



However it’s clear that Bivol has become a part of the boxing community here. He is already a highly-respected boxer who works well with others in the gym. He’s one of the few world-class fighters who prefers to work in the upstairs portion of the Wild Card Boxing Club, where he actually has no problem sharing a heavy bag with regular civilians, who are getting in their workouts. Trainer Danny Zamora says he has his young boxers watch Bivol, as he hits the bag to see his footwork, and controlling of space and distance.



Zamora said with admiration, “Bivol’s the only guy who comes to the gym with his hands already wrapped.”



For him this journey is just getting started. There is talk of a showdown with the “Krusher,” and then eventually unifying the division. But first he has to get past the experienced Chilemba.



Afterward he’ll go back home, and then, soon enough, he’ll be back in Los Angeles.