David Benavidez describes unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev as being like a “train” with his attacking style of fighting ahead of his undisputed championship clash against WBA champ Dmitry Bivol on October 12th in Riyadh.
Benavidez believes Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) can outbox IBF/WBC/WBO Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) if he can jab and stay on the move to avoid getting caught.
Beterbiev: The “Train”
“They’re both extremely talented fighters, but they’re two different types of fighters, though. Bivol is a boxer, and he moves around a lot, but he’s solid,” said David Benavidez to the Sean Zittel YouTube channel, talking about the October 12th undisputed light heavyweight championship fight between champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh.
“Beterbiev is a train. He comes at you; he takes shots to give shots. Bivol has the power to hurt Beterbiev because he’s been hurt by Gvozdyk. So, Bivol cracks harder than Oleksandr. If Bivol stays on his feet the whole night, uses his jab, and when they exchange, he stands his ground, he has a really good chance of winning.
Benavidez says former WBC 175-lb champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk hurt Beterbiev in their fight in 2019, and he feels that Bivol hits harder than him. Beterbiev stopped Gvozdyk in the tenth round of their fight.
I don’t remember seeing Gvozdyk hurting Beterbiev at any point in the fight. It was the other way around. It was Beterbiev hurting Gvozdyk with body shots until taking him out in the tenth with a series of hard headshots.
From what I’ve seen, Bivol does not punch harder than Gvozdyk, and his 52% KO rate compared to Oleksandr’s 80% would support that.
“Also, too, Beterbiev, when he gets his engine going, he’s a train. He has 19 fights and 19 knockouts [correction: 20 KOs in 20 fights]. It’s insane. It’s 50-50,” said Benavidez.
Beterbiev is always attacking, and provided his injured knee is 100%, it should be interesting to see how Bivol, handles his pressure. Will he move all night or try stand in front of Beterbiev and punch with him? I doubt that Bivol will want to be stationary against Beterbiev because it’s too risky.
“I think that would solidify me as the best of my generation if I beat the guy [Bivol] who beat the guy [Canelo Alvarez] who everybody wants to fight. So, that’s what I’m looking forward to. That’s why I work hard my whole life to make my dream come true,” said Benavidez.
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