Shakur Stevenson Views Artur Beterbiev Vs. Dmitry Bivol As “50-50 Fight”

Shakur Stevenson sees the light heavyweight undisputed championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on October 12th as a “true 50-50” contest.

WBC lightweight champion Stevenson feels that the Beterbiev-Bivol fight will come down to the pace of the contest. He thinks Beterbiev’s previous 20 opponents have let him “rest” during their fights.

The injured lightweight champion Shakur had been leaning towards WBA 175-lb champion Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) outboxing IBF, WBC, and WBO champ Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), but he’s changed his tune.

It could be that Shakur watched some highlights of Beterbiev’s fights and noted that he typically wears down and destroys pure boxers like Bivol. Shakur should take note of Beterbiev’s style when he returns from his injured right hand and begins preparing for his next fight against William Zepeda.

“Beterbiev vs. Bivol is a true 50/ 50 fight for me. Can Beterbiev land flush shots on Bivol, or will Bivol let Beterbiev rest in there like a lot of his other opponents do because of the power? I think the fight going boil down to what pace the fight will be fought at,” said Shakur Stevenson on X, giving his thoughts on the October 12th fight between light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Beterbiev doesn’t rest during his fights. It’s unclear where Shakur got the notion that he needs these fights to be fought at a slow pace for him to win because he’s generally the one who is on the attack, pushing a fast pace the entire time.

If you look at Beterbiev’s fights against Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, and Joe Smith Jr, he’s attacking those big punchers, preventing them from resting. It’s not the other way around. Beterbiev didn’t allow any of those fighters to rest because that’s not his style.

Beterbiev’s Last Five Fights:

– Callum Smith: TKO 7
– Anthony Yarde: TKO 8
– Joe Smith Jr: TKO 2
– Marcus Browne: KO 9
– Adam Deines: TKO 10

In Beterbiev’s fight against Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic, he was on the attack the entire fight, forcing him to battle without resting until finally knocking him out in the fifth round. David Morrell recently had 12 rounds with Kalajdzic, and he struggled against him by failing to follow the blueprint Beterbiev had created.