Dmitrii Bivol Respects David Benavidez for Wanting to Face the Best

Light heavyweight titleholder Dmitrii Bivol recently reflected on his past sparring sessions with David Benavidez ahead of his October unification fight with Artur Beterbiev.

Benavidez defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk on Saturday in the co-feature to Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin in Las Vegas, but he stated afterwards that his future lies at super middleweight. 

“The Monster” said he wanted to be “that dominant fighter who dominates both weight classes” – super middleweight and light heavyweight.

At the post-fight press conference, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), 27, said he felt he had earned the right to face the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol bout for the undisputed light heavyweight title. Last month, in Saudi Arabia, Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs), 33, secured a sixth-round technical knockout against Malik Zinad.

“I respect him as a fighter,” Bivol told FightHub TV. “He’s a really great fighter, and what he’s saying – that he wants to fight me and Beterbiev – it means that he’s a great fighter. He’s confident and he wants to achieve more and more. It’s good.”

When asked about his past experiences with Bennavidez in the ring, Bivol said, “I remember we had a couple of sparring sessions. I remember it was some good moments from my side, some good moments from his side. But you know, it’s sparring.”

Sparring, Bivol said, is about improvement rather than winning or losing.

“You do some things which your coach told you – you should do this and this,” Bivol said. “One round, you couldn’t do it. Another round, you try to do this. On the third round, you can do it once only, and you feel like you win this sparring because you did what your coach asked you.”