Roy Jones Jr. is still siding with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol to outbox IBF/WBC/WBO champ Artur Beterbeiv in their four-belt contest on October 12th in Riyadh. Jones Jr. believes that the two knockdowns that Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) has suffered during his career suggest that he’s got a weak chin and will be vulnerable to Bivol’s punches.
Roy doesn’t care that Beterbiev’s knockdowns were the flash variety against Callum Johnson and Jeff Page Jr. He feels that Beterbiev dropping in those two fights means he’ll be vulnerable to Bivol’s punches, even though he’s not a power guy.
Some would say that Jones Jr. is picking Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) because he has a bias towards him due to him being a pure boxer like he was during his long career. That could be the reason. Former fighters naturally prefer guys that have a similar style to how they fought.
“I think Bivol has a better chance going in because he’s a boxer who can also punch. Beterbiev is one of the best punchers this world is probably going to see for his weight class. So, he’s always dangerous, but he’s been down a few times in boxing. People say ‘He was ‘off balance.’ It don’t matter. You were down,” said Roy Jones Jr. to Fighthype, leaning toward Dmitry Bivol beating Artur Beterbiev on October 12th.
Bivol is not a puncher. He’s a boxer, but when he does score knockouts, it’s by landing an accumulation of shots against mostly fringe-level fighters. He’s only knocked out one opponent since 2018, Malik Zinad, a bottom-tier fighter who was chosen for him. Before that knockout, Bivol’s last stoppage came against Sullivan Barrera in the 12th round in March 2018.
“If a fighter knows you’ve been down and he can possibly put you back down, he can hit you in the right place. But he’s [Beterbiev] so hard to deal with,” said Roy.
It’s a mistake for Jones Jr. to confuse flash knockdowns that Beterbiev suffered against Callum Johnson and Jeff Page Jr. with him having weak punch resistance. Beterbiev got up off the deck to knock out Page in round two in December 2014 and stopped Johnson in the fourth round of their fight in October 2018.
“Bivol has to make sure he gets to the third, fourth, or fifth round, or he’s got to try and get him out right away. I don’t think he’ll do that because Bivol is not that kind of guy,” said Jones Jr.
It would be interesting to see Bivol try to slug with Beterbiev to knock him out because that would put him at risk of getting clipped. Beterbiev is the far better puncher of the two, and he would be happy to see Bivol choose to exchange with him.
Jones Jr. may not have watched enough of Bivol and Beterbiev’s fights to accurately predict this fight. It sounds like his knowledge of both guys is sketchy, because Bivol is not a puncher and Beterbiev isn’t chinny like he makes him out to be.
“If Bivol can use his feet and avoid the power for the first three or four rounds, Bivol should win the fight. But if he gets caught, we don’t know because I never seen him get caught by a guy that punches with the velocity that Artur Beterbiev punches with. Just because of his boxing skills,” said Roy Jr. when reminded of him giving Bivol a 60-40 chance of defeating Beterbiev.
Some would say that Jones Jr. is picking Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) because he has a bias towards him due to him being a pure boxer like he was during his long career. That could be the reason. Former fighters naturally prefer guys that have a similar style to how they fought.
