Artur Beterbiev versus Dmitry Bivol is a light heavyweight showdown for the ages.
It’s not often that two undefeated fighters put it all on the line, especially when all four of the major belts are also involved, but that is what happens on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia when Beterbiev and Bivol do battle.
Bivol has been the more active of the two of late, but his stand-out win came back in 2022 when he beat Canelo Alvarez on points.
Outside of that, he has beaten the likes of Malik Zinad, Lyndon Arthur and Gilberto Ramirez, often using his technical skills, great footwork and superb judge of range to get in and out, stay safe and score consistently.
Beterbiev on the other hand is a proven wrecking ball. He throws lots of heavy, clubbing shots and has so far never failed to chop down his man, with all 20 of his wins coming by way of knockout.
Those wins have come over the likes of Callum Smith, Callum Johnson and Anthony Yarde, though a couple of injuries have rather slowed his progress in the last two years.
Andre Ward is a former light heavyweight champion who twice beat the then man-of-the-moment Sergey Kovalev. In a resurfaced clip from ESPN ward assessed Bivol’s chances.
“[Bivol is a] very skilful guy. He may be a little undersized for the weight class but he’s skilful. He gets hit sometimes but he has the ability and the potential and the mindset to beat a guy like Beterbiev. You know Bivol’s gunna box, that’s gunna be his game plan, and I think he can outbox Beterbiev.”
But believes Beterbiev power and skill will be too much for his opponent.
“I’m not usually a guy who picks the puncher but this guy is different. I want a guy who can have multiple things to fall back on in case his punch doesn’t bail him out. But this guy, I’ve studied him, he’s different. He throws his body into every punch.
He’s physically a hard man, he’s strong. He hits extremely hard, he doesn’t even have to hit you clean. But he’s also an underrated boxer.
This guy has had 300 amateur fights. He’s a lot better skilful than people give him credit for and he’s gunna be a hard guy to beat.”
The final countdown is now on to a fight that has split many on-lookers right down the middle.
