Rewatching Dmitry Bivol's masterful performance against Canelo and Zurdo

The zurdo fight is a great one for the Canelo fans who think Bivols size had anything to do with what happened on that night

 

Yeah the Zurdo fight has aged well considering Zurdo has had success at Cruiserweight.

 

Great performamnces from Bivol her, but I would say that both Canelo and Zurdo have slow feet which allowed Dmitry to control the distance more easily, whilst Artur does not have the same fast feet as Bivol, he is very balanced and moves his feet very well for his own purposes.

What I will be most interested to see is how / if / for how long Bivol can command centre of the ring against Artur, Bivol always seems to manage to do this, but it's a tall order against Beterbiev. i think THAT is the key to the fight - can Bivol manage the distance, and continually command centre of the ring, keeping Artur from mounting any sustained offence.

Beterbiev himself commaned the centre of the ring againbst Gvodyzk, and is his favoured position, so something has to give there.

What the Zurdo fight especially shows is how offense-minded Bivol is even though he is defensively sound, any backward motion had intelligent counters & combinations to discounrage Zurdo, with Bivol regaining the centre after most exchanges. I feel it was the pressure (especially mental pressure) that nullified Zurdo's workrate and bodywork - but Beterbiev is a different prospect

 

I really can't stand Bivol but it's obvious he is very, very good

I just hope and pray that Beterbiev knocks him out this weekend

 

Clenelo always struggles with Bivols style. Ramirez is slower than molasses and very basic. Went life and death with Joe Smith and Hart twice. He never had anything at SMW-LHW other than size and was always a very carefully managed and coddled fighter(still is)

 

I watched the press conference today. Beterbiev has very large and thick bones, he probably has great bone density, that's why his punches are so heavy and destructive.

I wish Bivol good luck against this monster on Saturday night. I hope he wins against Beterbiev and his evil ex wife.

 

It's those mountain genetics. So many elite weightlifters, wrestlers, sambo and boxers out of that region despite the relatively small population size.

 

Try watching his fight with Richards.

 

I bet big on the Ramirez fight going the distance. I must say I clenched my cheeks a lot that night because Bivol was unusually aggressive and vicious that night. He put a lot into his punches at times and clearly Ramirez felt those punches.

 

If bivol stopped canelo and Zurdo then I’d give him a good chance of beating Beterbiev but he’ll get stopped late round’s similar to gvozdyk unless Beterbiev is injured

 

Zurdo was getting backed up all night because Bivol was using feints and he was aggressively trying to counter punch in combination. That's how you deter an aggressive fighter from going forward, smack them a few times in the face and make them be afraid of counters. Bivol has the ability to do that to pressure fighters. We'll see if he's successful against Beterbiev.

Make no mistake though, Bivol has the power to deter bigger fighters. When he lands, it hurts. That's why Canelo retreated in so many instances.

 

Yet Michael Spinks's wins against a "shot" Larry Holmes are completely worthless despite Holmes going on to have success against top heavyweights many years later

 

I think the Zurdo fight was his career best performance. I don’t find Bivol to be that interesting to watch all 12 rounds, but all those quick combinations he was throwing made him look like a special talent that night.