Promoter Eddie Hearn says nothing has been signed or agreed with the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch for February 22nd.
Undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) are being talked about as either headlining or being the co-feature on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s giant Riyadh Season card on February 22nd.
Bivol Gave It Away
Hearn’s eager for his fighter, firmer WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol, to face Beterbiev to get a chance to avenge his 12-round majority decision loss on October 12th.
The Matchroom promoter Hearn is still adamant that Bivol deserved the win, but he’s kept a stiff upper lip and has not cried or moaned about the decision since the night of the fight.
If Hearn wants to be upset with anyone, he must look at Bivol because he blew it. He had no heart for fighting once Beterbiev turned up the heat on him. No matter how much running & holding Bivol did, he couldn’t keep Beterbiev off.
The people who didn’t have a dog in the hunt say Bivol gave away his chance to win by getting on his bike beginning in the seventh after Beterbiev went into his seek-and-destroy mode.
Bivol had no chance at that point. He was forced to flee because he was taking vicious shots from Beterbiev each time he’d stop moving, and the clinching he was doing didn’t help. Beterbiev fought through the holding and was hammering Bivol at will. From the seventh round, Beterbiev dominated the last six rounds.
Hearn: No Rematch Deal Yet
“Nothing has been signed and agreed upon regarding the rematch. Of course, we know His Excellency called for that rematch in the ring,” said Eddie Hearn to Pro Boxing Fans about the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on February 22nd. “There have been discussions. Nothing confirmed yet, and when it is, I’m sure he’ll make an announcement.”
Out of all the excellent fights on the February 22nd card, the most interest is in the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch. There are sevel good fights on the card, but this one overshadows all of them.
February 22nd card
– Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
– Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2
– Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr.
– Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
– Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
– Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel
“Your main event is probably another tough chess match. The main event was a chess match because Bivol didn’t break,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Probox TV about the February 22nd possible main event fight between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Beterbiev Will Attack
It’s going to be a chess match because of Bivol, not Beterbiev. He’s going to be looking for a knockout and will put his Bivol’s feet to the fire right away rather than waiting until the seventh round. Bivol knows he can’t afford to try and throw combinations like he briefly attempted to do in the seventh.
That’s how Beterbiev hurt him. Bivol must hit, run, and hold in that order because that’s his only chance. He doesn’t possess the chin or the power to stand and right Beterbiev because he’s deficient in those areas.
“If Beterbiev can make Bivol break a little bit like most of his opponents break and Bivol starts losing positioning because he can’t have the mental concentration, that fight opens up as well. That fight didn’t open up the first time because neither guy was breaking position. It was a very disciplined fight at the highest level,” said Malignaggi.
Positioning = Nonstop Movement
The positioning that Malignaggi is talking about with Bivol is how he takes off running when under attack by Beterbiev because that’s pretty much all he did the entire second half of the fight when he began feeling the heat. Positioning is just code talk by Malignaggi for Bivol going into the survival mode and abandoning the fight. He was no longer trying to win from the seventh after being hurt by Beterbiev.
“Let me tell you how difficult that is to do when you’ve got guys setting traps, and one guy [Beterbiev] hits super hard and all the liabilities and nuances happening. That was a very high IQ fight, and I don’t know if words can even explain it,” said Malignaggi.
“I can’t guarantee that will happen again, but maybe it could because neither of these guys were convinced that they couldn’t have won the fight the first time around. Beterbiev, to me, looked like he was surprised that he won the fight. Neither guy was convinced that the results couldn’t have been the other way around.”
There was no surprise on Beterbiev’s face when the scores were read. He knew he’d won because Bivol stopped fighting in the second half, and it was so clear who the winner was. If you looked at Bivol’s face, he knew he’d lost and didn’t show any emotion when it was announced that he’d lost.
Beterbiev’s Surprise?
The only one that was upset was Hearn, who, when spastic, bellyaching nonstop, a classic example of a sour loser. He could have taken the high road and showed some class, but no, he had to make it ugly in the post-fight interviews. He sounded like a child having a tantrum.
“Beterbiev, to me, looked like he was a little surprised that he got the decision. Bivol didn’t complain that he didn’t get the decision, but it feels like he could have got the decision. Most people felt that he could have gotten the decision,” said Malignaggi, reading things that weren’t there.
“It could open up, but neither guy is going to break, and neither guy is going to feel like they did enough the first time around. I think you have a great fight there,” said Malignaggi.
There’s a good chance that Beterbiev will stop Bivol next time because he knows what he did wrong. He started too slow, giving Bivol too much respect.
Beterbiev knows he’s got to start off fast, pressure, chase, and not let Bivol clinch because that’s what he’ll do. Bivol is a spoiler and doesn’t care if he makes the fight unwatchable by moving. He just wants to win any way he can.
