Dmitry Bivol says he’s not putting energy into pitying himself for loss to Artur Beterbiev, is only focused on winning the rematch.
Dmitry Bivol takes some time during his training camp in Turkey to talk to Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV about his preparations for his upcoming rematch with Artur Beterbiev, being on a big card, lessons he’s learned from the first fight, and what could lay ahead. Here are some excerpts of what Bivol had to say with the full video interview at the top.
Bivol on if he expects his rematch with Beterbiev to be any different from the first fight
“I think it will be a little bit different and I think it will be more interesting for the fans because we already know each other and it’s very soon, we could prepare ourselves better for this rematch.”
On how he assesses his performance from first fight
“What wasn’t good is I didn’t throw a lot of punches. I had to throw more punches. What was good, the moments when I catch him, when I punch him. I know how it happened but I don’t want to talk about how I punch him, how I did it, or why I didn’t throw enough punches. We are talking about it in the camp with my coach. We talked about (it) and now we are working, we’re training.
“I have to be better in all (aspects), everything I have to do better. I have to be better Dmitry Bivol than today or yesterday.”
On if he’s made changes in his preparations for the rematch
“Yeah, of course. Some new sparring partners, we have one new coach for stretching, and the situations around me is different, and my mind is a little bit different. A lot of different things.”
On the experience of losing his first professional fight
“Of course I don’t like to hear ‘the former world champion’ or ‘ex-world champion’ or I have one loss. I don’t like it but I cannot think too much about it. I just don’t have time to think about it and to pity myself about it. Just, I don’t like it. I want to move forward. Yes, it happened, okay. Let’s close this door, let’s move forward.
“Of course I’m angry, I’m disappointed, but it’s not eating me too much. I don’t try to let this (disappointment) to make worse for me. I’m trying to use this (disappointment) for good, for training more harder. That’s it.”
On the Benavidez vs Morrell winner set to become the mandatory for the winner of his rematch
“To be honest I don’t think too much about their fight because I have my own business with Beterbiev…I’m focused only on my fight.”
On how he thinks a Canelo vs Crawford fight would play out
“It goes like Crawford will try to keep distance on Canelo and he will try to use his long distance and moving. But what will happen, only God knows. Could he keep him full distance (of the fight at bay)?
“(To keep the distance) for all fight, I don’t know. If he could, will he — but also just to keep Canelo on the distance is not enough. (Canelo) has good defense. His body movement, it’s great. To reach his head you need to throw not only one, two punches, you need to throw five, seven punches and one punch you will score…You will miss like five punches but one of the, sixth punch, will reach him.”
Read the full article here
