Dmitry Bivol says, “I’m just different,” ahead of Saturday’s fight against Artur Beterbiev

The good thing about having low expectations is that it means you are rarely disappointed. 

This rang true again this evening (October 10) when Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev shared a top table at yet another press conference ahead of their light heavyweight battle on Saturday (October 12) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Fed up with talking, both Beterbiev and, to a lesser extent, Bivol were content to allow the giddy promoters and managers on either side of them to do most of the selling on their behalf and no amount of coaxing could get them to change their ways. 

Of the two, Bivol was the most vocal. He spoke in complete sentences and appeared happy to elaborate when pressed. 

“Every time when I think about my opponents, I am getting excited,” he said. “One of them is the face of boxing (Saul “Canelo” Alvarez), and it’s exciting to fight against this guy; another had almost 50 fights and never lost (Gilberto Ramirez); and another guy (Lyndon Arthur) is a champion also. It makes me more excited, not nervous. Artur is a great champion. He has what I want. He has belts. It’s not only about belts. When I look at his skills, I want to check my skills against this amazing fighter.”

Asked if he has imagined how Saturday’s fight with Beterbiev will play out, Bivol, 23-0 (12), said: “In my training camp, in my head, I’m always trying to realise how it goes. There are a lot of different scenarios. Usually a fighter will be more calm in some situations when he realises he is ready for everything. If he trains something in his training camp, and this happens in the ring, he is more confident. Against Beterbiev, we had to do a great camp. We had to think about different scenarios and we did. Now I am just curious how it will be in the ring.”

It is fair to say that most watching tonight’s press conference in Riyadh were slightly curious to see how Beterbiev, 20-0 (20), would react to being asked questions. Having been accused in recent days of being “arrogant” by Eddie Hearn, Bivol’s promoter, it could have gone one or two ways. Either Beterbiev could have taken the bait, tried to overcompensate, and simply gone on the attack, or, conversely, he could have doubled down on his truculence and annoyed Hearn further. 

“I think we talk a lot,” said Beterbiev to start, at which point it became clear he had no interest in appeasing anyone. “I’m preparing for a good fight,” he added. “We’ll see. Be ready. I will be, too.”

As for Bivol, as well as ready, he said this to finish: “I’m just different. I just have a different name, different body, different skills. This is why it is such an interesting fight. We all know everybody is different.”

Bivol and Beterbiev are certainly different, that much is true. Also, at a time of loud noises and unearned hype, different can be considered rather refreshing, a nice change.