The key to Bivol’s commitment to the rematch against Beterbiev

Dmitry Bivol is hard at work, training in the snow for his rematch in 68 days against undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev on February 22, 2025 in Riyadh.

Bivol, 33, should increase his punching output in the rematch and not as much around the ring as he did in the first fight. It seemed to many fans that he was running away from the fight, and that gave the impression that Bivol was in survival mode throughout the 12-round contest.

What Bivol should do in the rematch

• Stay in your pocket and participate
• Increase punch production
• Don’t hold on and run
• Show bravery: This area was missing in Bivol last time.

Bivol’s minimalist approach

In his loss to Beterbiev, Bivol seemed to be trying to score a cheap win by doing the bare minimum and hoping the judges would give him the win based on his minimalist approach.

Former WBA 175-pound champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) lost to Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) via 12-round majority decision two months ago on October 12. The judges scored 115-113, 116-112 for Beterbiev and 114-114.

Due to interest from fans, promoters, Matchroom & Top Rank’s Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh, Bivol will receive a rematch he does not deserve. He should have to earn the rematch because he didn’t show bravery in his first fight last October.

He fought the same as Shakur Stevenson, who uses the same style and is booed outside the arenas. Bivol needs a complete renovation.

In the video clip, Bivol uses many feints and moves his upper body to avoid the imaginary blows that Beterbiev would inflict on him on February 22.

Enter to win

Hopefully, Bivol comes to fight this time because he didn’t show any willingness to fight Beterbiev once he started pushing non-stop from the sixth round. It was hard to watch last time.

Bivol has been aggressive when fighting lesser fighters, but seemed scared against Beterbiev. We saw similar behavior from Bivol when Lyndon Arthur hurt him in the eighth round of their fight on December 23, 2023. Bivol got on his bike and kept moving for the final four rounds to win by decision. He seemed scared of Arthur.

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