Oleksandr Usyk has joined in the discussion around the upcoming light heavyweight rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
These two pound-for-pound contenders Beterbiev and Bivol first did battle back in October. At that point, neither man had ever been beaten.
Beterbiev had been down once during a fight with Callum Johnson but soon turned the tide and won by KO. In fact, every single one of his fights had ended with a knockout victory until he met Bivol.
While Bivol doesn’t have the same concussive power, he had beaten all comers, mostly on points, including most famously Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, which is why both men were considered the very best in their division.
It was Beterbiev who won the first fight on points, rallying to impose himself after a slow start that saw Bivol have plenty of success.
Now the pair do it all again on February 22 out in Saudi Arabia for all four of the major world titles and on a hugely stacked card that will also see Daniel Dubois defend his IBF world heavyweight strap against Joseph Parker, among many other great contests.
In a recent interview with TNT Sports, Usyk was asked to predict the outcome of the fight and found it too hard to call.
“50-50”
After the first clash being so close, many agree with Usyk that this one is another evenly matched battle, Callum Smith is a Brit who has faced and lost to both men – Biovl on points as an amateur, and Beterbiev by stoppage, but leans narrowly towards Bivol as the younger man.
