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Dmitry Bivol wants to use more movement and counter-punching in the rematch with Artur Beterbiev because he felt he didn’t use enough last Saturday night in his 12-round majority decision loss.
Many fans felt that Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) was using too much movement, which is why he ultimately lost the fight; he wasn’t stopping long enough to throw punches from rounds 8 through 12. Bivol seemed to tire from his continuous movement, which made him easy prey for Beterbiev in the last five rounds.
Bivol Influenced by Sugar Ray
Dmitry Bivol says he watched some of Sugar Ray Leonard’s old fights before the Beterbiev fight. He mentions watching Leonard’s fight against Marvin Hagler, and Ray was moving the full 12 rounds. He would stop to throw combinations before moving again.
What Bivol fails to note is that many boxing fans who watched the Leonard-Hagler fight felt that Hagler was robbed by the judges because he landed the bigger shots and that Leonard was just shoe-shining with speedy combinations that had little power.
Using Leonard’s fight against Hagler as a blueprint to follow against Beterbiev in this era was a mistake. Bivol lacks Leonard’s popularity to be given a gift decision against Beterbiev like many felt he got against Hagler.
“I want to improve on my movement. I didn’t move enough. I have to move more and use more counter-punches. I just have to add more,” said Dmitry Bivol to Fight Hub TV about what he must do for the rematch with Artur Beterbiev to improve his game. “The tactic was not just standing in front of Beterbiev. Move like Ray Leonard.”
If Bivol is going to mimic Leonard’s approach to fighting, he should focus on some of his fights where he was sitting down on his punches more and fighting with more aggression. He’s not fast enough to fight like Leonard did in his prime. Bivol would be better off using an early Oscar De La Hoya as someone to copy for his rematch with Beterbiev. De La Hoya was blazing fast when he started his career. He was an offensive fighter, scoring a lot of knockouts.
“He has good conditioning. He was trying to take the last rounds. This is what I don’t like. I didn’t do these three rounds perfect,” said Bivol about how he failed to let his hands go in rounds 10, 11, and 12.
“They were telling me, ‘You should move. You should throw your jab like you did before. Don’t stand in front of him. Don’t be a standing target,’” said Bivol on what his corner told him before the 12th round.
In hindsight, Bivol moved too much in the 12th round and gave it to away to Beterbiev. With the fight on the line, Bivol should have fought with more aggression.
“I felt at moments, I could do it, but I was [cautious],” said Bivol. “My plan was to move a lot because I was watching a lot of [Sugar] Ray Leonard’s fights before this fight. Leonard-Hagler. In all 12 rounds, Leonard was moving.
“He would stop, do combinations, and then move again. He wasn’t standing with Hagler. If he stood and fought with Hagler, it’s not reasonable. You can’t fight against a guy that is stronger than you.
“With Beterbiev, we have to agree that he’s the strongest puncher in the light heavyweight division, but it doesn’t mean he is the best one,” said Bivol.
Beterbiev beat Bivol, so that should mean that he’s the “best” in the division. Bivol saying that Beterbiev isn’t the best one in the light heavyweight division suggests that he either thinks he’s still better or thinks someone else in the fight class is. Bivol has done a good job of being humble after his defeat, but his above comment about Beterbiev not being the best suggests that he hasn’t accepted his loss fully.
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