David Benavidez insists former WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol deserved to win his fight against IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12 last year in Riyadh.
Bivol’s Supremacy
WBC ‘interim’ 175-lb champion Benavidez says Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) threw the better combinations and controlled most of the fight. He feels that if Bivol, 34, fights the way he did last time, he will defeat undisputed champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) in their rematch on February 22 in Riyadh. Their match will be shown live on DAZN PPV.
Some believe the reason Benavidez is picking Bivol to win the rematch is because he wants him to win because he might lack the confidence to defeat Beterbiev, who is a massive puncher. The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez’s fighting style involves him putting every ounce of energy into every punch he throws in order to get maximum power on his shots.
David is not a big puncher so he stuffs everything he throws to improve his power. That style won’t work against Beterbiev because he throws short punches with tremendous power, and unlike Benavidez, he doesn’t need to wind up to generate his power.
If Benavidez fights Artur, it will be a miserable night. He couldn’t fill up on his shots because he wanted to be tagged. Also, David’s quick combination punches would leave him open to being countered by Beterbiev and knocked out.
Although Benavidez takes good shots due to his thick skull, which has a slight acromegaly-like appearance, his ability to take shots to the body is not so good. He might get hurt there. In the 12th round, Oleksandr Gvozdyk landed a hard right hand to Benavidez’s midsection, completely shutting down his offense for the remainder of the round.
He did not throw a punch after being hurt to the body by Gvozdyk in the last round. Beterbiev is a better puncher than Gvozdyk and he will have seen that weakness and focused on that area instead of wasting punches on Benavidez’s thick skull.
Rematch Prediction
“I thought Bivol won that match. It was a close match. It couldn’t have gone either way,” David Benavidez told the media, talking about the fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol last October 12 in Riyadh.
“I feel that Bivol won most rounds. He controlled most of the rounds and his combination punches were better,” Benavidez continued. “I think he [Bivol] do [win the rematch on February 22nd].
“Both of these fighters are high-caliber fighters. So they can make adjustments. I don’t know if it will be the same fight or not, but if it is the same fight, I feel that Bivol will win.”
