Dmitry Bivol knows what it feels like to be hit by both Canelo Alvarez and Artur Beterbiev.
Bivol fought Canelo back in May 2022 when the Mexican moved up in weight, and Bivol caused an upset when he defeated the undisputed super-middleweight champion to retain his WBA light heavyweight title.
The Russian then tried to become undisputed in his own right at 175lbs when he took on fearsome puncher Beterbiev in Saudi Arabia back in October.
It was an extremely close battle between the two men, but in the end the judges sided with Beterbiev by majority decision as he added Bivol’s WBA belt to his WBC, IBF and WBO collection.
Bivol has now revealed who he believes to hit harder between Canelo and Beterbiev, explaining to Fight Hub TV that the Mexican has the more one punch power.
“I could compare [Beterbiev’s power] with Canelo. He [Canelo] put all his energy and power in a single punch. Maybe a single punch sometimes Canelo is harder than Beterbiev, because Beterbiev was more close and compact.
“But if you ask them let’s do five punches, Beterbiev every punch will be hard. With Canelo maybe first hard and then not [as much]. Both of them are strong but Beterbiev is bigger and he’s born strong.”
A rematch between Bivol and Beterbiev looks set to soon be announced for an upcoming Riyadh Season card in February, which is also scheduled to include Daniel Dubois defending his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, plus a big heavyweight showdown involving Zhilei Zhang.
