One man who has fought both knows all about the specific skillsets of light heavyweight rulers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
In the case of Beterbiev, it is no secret that his main weapon is his punching power. He is the only current world champion with a 100% knockout record having stopped all 20 of his opponents on his way to becoming a unified champion.
There is now just one man between him and the glory of holding all four major belts in the light-heavyweight division, and that is Bivol. Generally regarded as a more rounded fighter, Bivol has exceptional footwork, knows how to master the distance in fights and has sharp reflexes that allow him to get in and out quickly, as he did when he beat multi-weight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a tight and technical contest a few years ago.
He also beat Joe Smith Jr back in 2019 via unanimous decision, while Beterbiev stopped Smith to retain his WBC, WBO and IBF belts back in 2022 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
in a YouTube interview Smith has recently reflected on those fights, starting with the moment he wobbled Bivol in their contest.
“Bivol, when I caught him, it was at the wrong time, right at the end of the round so he was able to make it through.
Bivol was the tougher fight for me. He’s an all-round fighter but both fighters are very skilled. Beterbiev is very accurate with his punches, he hits you where he wants to. I’m looking forward to seeing both of them fight.”
He was then pushed for a prediction and went with Bivol, just.
“It’s a tough fight, anything could happen. Beterbiev’s got that punching and accuracy but Bivol is an all-round fighter.”
