The conqueror of two weight divisions and the current boxing commentator on ESPN channel American Timothy Bradley is delighted with the owner of the WBA Super light heavyweight belt Russian Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
At the beginning of the month, he beat the mandatory challenger, the hefty Mexican Gilberto Ramirez.
Opinion Bradley: “Bivol is a bad boy. He beat a real heavyweight. Ramirez gained in weight somewhere up to 90.7 kg. But Bivol still pressed him. I also thought while watching that Ramirez’s coach is doing something wrong. Dude, you should have asked me. What’s the plan for the fight? Outbox a boxer? What the hell were you even trying to do? What’s the point of backing off the starting gong? I spent the whole fight thinking, “My God, what are they doing?” It’s clear that they needed to put pressure, rely on anthropometry and strength.”
Bradley believes that Bivol will beat, among other things, the unified division champion playing for Canada, Russian Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs): “Note that despite his height, Bivol is incredibly cool in controlling the distance. He’s just great at this. If he comes out against Bererbiev… Just trust me, he knows everything about boxing. He knows how to stay away from the ropes, how to get away from the pressure. It is generally accepted that he is not very good at infighting. But it’s not. I have never seen a frightened Ramirez before. And Bivol really scared him.”
Bradley doesn’t consider Beterbiev’s power to be the main factor in the fight with Bivol: “He just has unrealistic defense. I understand that you will now start talking about Beterbiev’s striking power and all that. But listen to me. What’s the point of this power if you can’t bring your fist to the target? And it is precisely this task that he will have to solve first of all. I think the chances are about 50/50. After all, Beterbiev is still a smart boxer. But footwork… That’s the difference. Bivol has much better footwork. And he’s better on defense. I think he is going to crumble Beterbiev to pieces. But if he yawns, things could end badly for him.”
Bradley is delighted with Bivol’s fighting IQ: “For me personally, this is a top 5 pound fighter. He didn’t just beat Canelo Alvarez and ex-champ Ramirez, who has 40-something wins. He did it playfully. And I could not even imagine that this is possible. It’s unreal that he did it so easily. That all this looked like a trifling matter to him.
Yesterday, the ex-world champion said that Usyk will beat Canelo in the same way that Bivol did. And expert Teddy Atlas said: “I don’t want a rematch with Alvarez and here’s why …”
