If this will go to cards, I think Bivol will win this one if he is in good shape. However Bolotņiks had oubtoxed Ekimov all 12 rounds and Ekimov is better in outboxing than anyone he had in MTK tournament and also better than Bolotņiks, It didn't helped. I was shocked for this fight.
Why? Looks that Bivol is willing to risk. Not likely a lot of highly ranked boxers wish to have Bolotņiks in the ring. Probably low reward and high risk and if win even not much credit for this from fans. If bearing in mind that most of Bolotņiks lost fights were at CW and a lot of them long years ago.
This is a damn good fight, and quite frankly, I wouldn't rule out an upset. Bolotniks has been on an incredible run over the last year and a half, and easily one of the most improved fighters in the sport. His jab, his pressure, his punch selection, his angles, all are top notch. He's a better opponent than Richards (I'm also a fan of), who he'd beat comprehensively. Who But his wins over Ekimov, Ward, Michel and Burton are all top notch, and he should've had a win over Nielsen as well, up at Cruiserweight. So this is the epitome of high risk, low reward for Bivol.
Why are folks saying this is not a good fight? Bolotniks is a live dog in this! Sure, I'd prefer to see Beterbiev vs Bivol unification, but AFAIK Beterbiev vs Smith is in the works, leaving Bivol to sort something else out. Think this will be a great fight.
His record is very, very deceptive. A very good fighter, who will certainly come to win and not take his paycheck
What went on early in his career? By the time I ever saw him he looked good, but he lost to some so-so competition.
Most likely yeah. Nielsen fight: Bolotņiks was underdog because then Nielsen had only 1 lost fight: vs Lerena on cards in South Africa. Lerena is huge for CW dude and told that he will try also bridger weight cos for him is not easy to make weight for CW. Being more huge than prime Huck and Briedis, Lerena currently looks that is ranked at CW as #6 by boxrec, TBRB as #5, The Ring as #5 and WBA as #3 and IBO as #1. vs Nielsen he had dealt only via decision. Bolotņiks was very competitive vs Nielsen. Ok, boxing event's promoter was Saureland and Nielsen was Team Sauerland boxer. He even was not so helpless vs Mchunu at CW: while being larger dude, Mchunu wasn't able to steamroll or press him. Mchunu won rounds, then lost round and in next round Bolotņiks even had roped him, Mchunu being more experienced catched him and managed to win. Then there also draw in Canada vs Canadian boxer in resume. Bolotņiks looks that had traveled aboard to fight and I had lurked that there is no evidence that he was some amateur boxing star or superstar like usually these EE boxers in pro ranks are. So looks that there lack of high level amateur boxing achievements and experience had contributed to his not nice looking record on paper. Matchmaking too, of course does not looks that was good for him in beginning of his pro boxing career. While I think Bivol is better, Bolotņiks is dangerous despite low KOs percentage. 1. He had stopped boxers with not that bad looking records and ranking who are able to punch hard. 2. Looks that he does have good gas tank cos vs Ekimov, Michel and Burton he had performed better in the end of fight. 3. He might like explode even in first rounds: 1st round stoppages vs Cordoba and Ward, 2 nd round stoppage vs Prusak. 4. Might pull on gas in middle of the fight, like vs Gassanov. 5. Might pull on gas in the end of fight. Looks that he also does have fans friendly style and loves to march forward.
AFAIK he was an ice hockey player and switched to boxing on a whim, so guess was very raw to start with, very much improved.
