Artur Beterbiev says his team has made some changes to his training and he hopes to be at least 10% improved for his rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22 in Riyadh.
Undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) won’t reveal what areas he’s improved, but he reckons it’s enough to make the fight more exciting.
10% better
The look on Beterbiev’s face during interviews this week suggests he will attack Bivol non-stop, forcing him to either fight or flee. Last time, Bivol escaped, which saved him from being knocked down, but still cost him the match. He was too focused on survival.
I suspect that will be his main target this time as he starts to feel the heat from Beterbiev. Bivol is a good fighter when he’s not dealing with things being thrown back at him. But when his opponents roll, he must step up or retreat. He’s always fought that way.
“We changed some things during training. I hope to be better in this fight than I was in the first fight,” Artur Beterbiev told talkSport Boxing about his rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22. “Before I was undisputed , I wanted a fourth belt. Now I want to keep them.
“If I receive any offers for this thing, I will look at them. So far I have only received an offer for a rematch and I accepted it,” Beterbiev said when asked if he would be open to to move up to cruiserweight after this to fight.
“I can take any fight if I have different offers. I will check with my team and take it,” Beterbiev said when asked if he would be interested in fighting Canelo Alvarez or Jai Opetaia if he defeats Bivol.
“28,” Beterbiev said when asked how old he is.
Bivol’s tactics
He is too old at 34 to switch now and the only thing he can do differently in the rematch is hold more. That’s what many fighters say he should have done last time. That’s what we’re likely to see more of from Bivol to neutralize Beterbiev’s attack.
Last time out, Beterbiev started slow and let Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) win the first quarter of the fight with his jab and quick left-right combinations.
Beterbiev began to look like his usual self midway through the match. Bivol had become confident and showed no respect for Artur as he had done in his recent fights against Malik Zinad, Lyndon Arthur and Gilberto Ramirez.
Clearly, Bivol misjudged Beterbiev and paid the price because he took over the fight from round six and never looked back. The scores were 115-113, 116-112 for Beterbiev and 114-114.
Interestingly, many fans and fighters are rooting for Bivol to win the fight. They believe that he had done enough to win the first fight, even they admit that he did not look like winning a round from the sixth. They still think he won. It didn’t look like Bivol was winning.
For Bivol to win, he will also have to fight with more aggression, because Beterbiev will put more pressure on him this time. The judges favored Artur’s attacking style over the withdrawal that Bivol did.
“If I have a 10% chance, I’ll be a lot better,” Beterbiev told Queensberry Promotions about how much improvement would make him happy for his rematch with Bivol. “I can’t tell you. You want to tell Bivol. I know you talk about me to Bivol,” Beterbiev said when asked what areas he wants to improve.
“I hope and think it will be more interesting fight than the first one, because now we know each other,” Beterbiev said about the rematch with Bivol.
