 This coming weekend fight fans around the globe will be focused on the Light Heavyweight division as the unbeaten Dmitrii Bivol (19-0, 11) takes on Mexican megastar Saul Alvarez (57-1-2, 39), at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout will see Bivol looking to extend his WBA Light Heavyweight "super" title reign, whilst Alvarez will look to further cement his place as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, and one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all time.
The bout promises to be a serious test for Canelo, who has looked sensational in recent years, whilst Bivol will get a chance to make a huge name for himself and prove he really is as good as his fans believe. Of the two fighters there is no doubting that Alvarez is the bigger name and the more prominent star. The Mexican is widely regarded as the face of the sport and the biggest global star boxing has. Not only is he regarded as a huge star but he's also widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter, and has had success from Light Middleweight up to Light Heavyweight, winning titles in all 4 weight classes. Not only that but his resume is also incredible, with wins against the likes Shane Mosley, Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant. In the ring Canelo is a supreme fighting machine. He's an offensive fighter, who presses forward on the front foot, mentally breaks fighters with his front foot pressure, but applies that pressure in an intelligent, educated fashion. He uses smart footwork to cut the ring off, excellent head movement to make fighters miss, a tight guard to block shots that head his way, and some of the best body punching in the sport. Although not a huge single punch puncher Canelo is heavy headed, and his shots do damage right through the bout, with his power carrying late into bouts. He's often looks under-sized at 168lbs, never mind 175lbs, but he's physically imposing, thick, heavy set and incredibly strong, allowing him to push naturally bigger men around. Worryingly for opponents he's also intelligent, with a good boxing brain and he has shown an ability to adapt when he needs to. If we're looking for flaws with Canelo, he does have relatively slow feet, movement has caused him issues numerous times during his career and fighters have had success by keeping him chasing, but he his typically got to them sooner or later, Floyd Mayweather Jr aside. Russian based fighter Bivol is a fighter who has generated a lot of buzz among the hardcore fans early in his career, with exciting performances, and highly developed skills, along with an impressive work rate and a fan friendly style. His early years as a professional gave hints at him something a bit special, and someone worth tuning into. It was noted that he was a stand out amateur, though from his early days as a professional it was clear he had a style suited to the professional ranks. Early career wins over the likes of Felipe Romero, Jackson Junior and Felix Veral, all in his first 7 fights, put him on the fast track. Sadly however as the level of competition improved Bivol's style began to move away from exciting and over the last 4 or so years he has gone from exciting to conservative, controlling and effective, turning fans against him, despite solid wins over the likes of Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr. In recent years Bivol has focused a lot on boxing. Dictating the range, tempo and style of the fight. Using footwork to create space. Controlling the action behind his long straight punches, and good timing, rather than work rate, aggression and combinations. He has seemingly been happy to cruise to wins, and had disappointing performance against the likes of Isaac Chilemba and Craig Richards as a result. There is no doubting his talent, but there is a lack of fire, excitement, drive and in some ways ambition. And it has resulted in a lot of his recent fights feeling dramaless, as he sucks the excitement out of bouts. It works, and gets results, but certainly does feel like he has lost much of the good will he had. Although a solid Light Heavyweight Bivol is certainly no physical freak at the weight, nor a massive puncher. With Canelo looking to make his name at the weight, Bivol is the ideal foe for him, unlike Joe Smith Jr and Artur Beterbiev, who can both bang. Bivol will try and box with Canelo, and will have success, with his footwork, straight punching and work at distance. Sadly though we don't see him keeping Canelo at bay long enough to rack up the rounds, and instead he will be forced to either stand and fight, or go through the motions to lost a decision. We don't see Bivol having the hunger needed to make this into a fire fight late on. Instead we see him starting well, being caught up in the middle rounds, and then having Canelo take the lead, with his work rate and pressure, and go on to take a wide, clear, decision over the champion. Bivol will have moments, but will simply not do enough. Prediction - UD12 Canelo
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 This coming Saturday is a crazily busy day in the world of professional boxing with a lot of major fighters in action and a host of world champions defending their titles. Sadly with so much going on it can be easy for a fighter to get lost in the shuffle, and that certainly seems to be the case for WBA Light Heavyweight "super" champion Dmitry Bivol (18-0, 11), who will be defending his title in Russia against Umar Salamov (26-1, 19). The bout, although a pretty damn good one, has flown under-the-radar, and almost sums up the last few years in the career of Bivol, who should have been a in huge fights by now, but is instead having one of the most frustrating careers of any world class fighter in the sport.
The 30 year old Bivol, originally from Kyrgyzstan though fighting out of Russia, is one of the very best at 175lbs. He's a smart fighter, with solid power, a high work rate, and a very good boxing brain. He has notched plenty of good wins as well, beating the likes of Felix Varela, Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal, Joe Smith Jr and Lenin Castillo. He, arguably, has the best resume of any active fighter at 175lbs. Sadly however he is also a huge frustrating figure, who has built a reputation as a fighter who is happy to win, and won't go out of his way to impress. To him it seems the victory is more important than making fans tune in and watch him, or care about him. We know he's not alone in that mentality, but it has made it easy for the other fighters in the division to freeze him out. He's too much of a high risk, low reward fighter, even with the WBA belt around his waste. In the ring the most accurate description of Bivol is methodical. He fights at a steady tempo from round 1 to round 12, he keeps at mid to long range, uses good footwork and good straight shots. He does throw a lot of leather, in fairness to him, but it is almost all straight shots, and his inside work is very limited. He fights very much like a man who is boxing within himself and hasn't been required to use the top two gears. It's incredibly frustrating to watch him, knowing he can do so much more but know he doesn't want to do more. He just wants the win, rather than to shine, and create fan demand for bigger and better bouts. The worst thing is we know he can punch, we know he can bang, we know he can make statements, as he did when he stopped Sullivan Barerra and Trent Broadhurst, but he simply chooses not to. Whilst Bivol is someone with the skills to impress, who has chosen not to, 27 year old Umar Salamov is someone who simply hasn't yet been given the chances to impress, but will know this is a huge opportunity for his career. He's been a professional since 2012 and began his career in Ukraine, being matched softly, before stepping up and scoring notable wins over the likes of Doudou Ngumbu, Bob Ajisafe and Eil Markic, decent European level fighters. In 2017 he differed his first loss, a razor thin one to Damien Hooper, but since then has found a nasty side going 7-0 (5) and scored decent wins against the likes of Sergei Ekimov. In the ring Salamov is a tall, long fighter at the weight, standing at around 6'3". He looks to use his reach, fighting behind a long jab, and he does well in setting the table with it, even if it's not the most spiteful jab out there. He looks relaxed in the ring, but can be seen over-reaching and making silly mistakes, often when trying to land his right hand, which is a very powerful shot but not one thrown with much crispness to it. In fact whilst he does look like someone who knows what he's doing in the ring, he also looks like someone who lacks real polish. There's a lot to like, but there's a lot of areas where it's clear he needs to tighten things up, and that's both offensive and defensively. Sadly for Salamov whilst he has got tools to make a mark in the sport, his flaws are the major issue, and against someone as technically well schooled and as smart as Bivol those flaws will be picked apart. Salamov's willingness to fight at range, even with his height and reach, will not serve him well against the crisp, clean, and accurate 1-2's of Bivol, who will use his head for target practice. Salamov's ugly defense leaves him open and Bivol will be able to land time and time again. It will, for all intents, look like Bivol and his team have picked the perfect dance partner. The real question is "Will Bivol look to score a finish?" Sadly we don't think so, and instead we're expecting a long, dreary, decision win for the frustrating champion. Prediction - UD12 Bivol  Over the last few years we have had some real frustrations at Light Heavyweight, where we have a lot of potentially interesting match ups to be made. Sadly however the bouts to define the division hasn't taken place, and instead two main fighters in the division have haf major issues securing the career defining bout they need. One of those is the much avoided Artur Beterbiev, who punches like a truck and has long been avoided, and the other is Dmitry Bivol (17-0, 11), who is skilled but lacks in terms drawing power and excitement.
Bivol has been the WBA "Super" champion for several years now, and has a string of good victories to his name, including the likes of Sullivan Barrera, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr, but has failed to land a massive monster fight. That wait for a career defining bout will need to continue, but thankfully he is in action on May 1st as he looks to keep his WBA "Super" title and his unbeaten record in tact. Sadly though his up coming defense is certainly not one to get the pulse racing. Instead of sharing the ring with a leading divisional fighter he'll be up against Englishman Craig Richards (16-1-1, 9). The talented Bivol, who was born in Kyrgyzstan and now fights out of Russia, is one of the most technically correct boxers in the Light Heavyweight division and also, potentially, the biggest threat to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. In fact Bivol has repeatedly offered himself as a potential "Canelo" opponent and offered to drop to Super Middleweight for that bout. Whilst technically very skilled he is, somewhat boring to watch and that seems to be something that he doesn't care about. He's happier to win a dull decision, boxing his way for 12 rounds, and controlling every minute of the bout than to take any risks and give fans anything exciting and memorable. In terms of quality few match Bivol. He's got a brilliant jab, his understanding of the ring is top notch, he moves around the ring with a lot of ease and sets a high out put. But he keeps everything pretty much the same. He'll set the table with his jab, and then look to follow through with the occasional power shot, all at range. On the inside he holds, forces the referee to reset, and does the same in an attempt to keep the bout being fought as his bout. There is next to no drama in his bouts, which is a shame as early on he was exciting and fought like a man with a point to prove. He began his career 13-0 (11), but recently has been putting on controlled, but dominant displays against some very decent, but unspectacular, competition. His challenger is much less well known and much less proven. In fact fans outside of the UK probably haven't seen too much of the 30 year old Richards, who has fought all 18 of his bouts in the UK. As with nay British fighters guys early career was relatively unremarkable, with fights against a string of limited journeymen, though his did show enough to be moved towards bigger and better domestic fights, fighting for the British title in his 11th bout. That was a huge step up, against Frank Buglioni, and he gave a really good account of himself, despite losing. Since then he has gone unbeaten, won the British title and proven himself as a solid domestic level fighter. Of course the step up from British level to world level is huge, and despite winning the British title there's still a fair argument that he's only the 5th best in the UK. Before we get on to Richard's style we will quickly discuss the British Light Heavyweight scene, which is even more frustrating than the global scene. The UK has 5 very good Light Heavyweights. Callum Johnson, Josgua Buatsi, Lydon Arthur, Anthony Yarde and Craig Richards. From those 5 men we've only had one bout between two of them, and that only came last year. We've also seen two of the fighters fight for world titles, and soon to be 3, without any of them proving they are the best domestically. The division, domestically, has so much talent and potential, but politics has really left things feeling underwhelming. In the ring Richards is a big, tall, rangy fighter. He looks incredibly relaxed and calm in the ring and has real patience behind his work. He's not the quickest, but he is a smart fighter, and a smart, tall fight can be a nightmare for anyone. His footwork is solid, and he uses it will to create distance, but he's not the quickest on his feet. What he does really well is he allows bouts to be fought at a slow pace. He's not an exciting fighter, he's not a fun fighter to watch, but he's technically very solid, with a sharp jab, good counter punching and he applies very intelligent pressure, without taking risks. He's physically imposing and that allows him to pressure in the way he does. Although certainly not a puncher he does have some sting on his shots and his TKO of Shakan Pitters last year was very impressive. Sadly for Richards this is a monster step up and we think that the step up will be far, far, far too much for him. His patient pressure style has success at domestic level, but we can't see that carrying up to world level, especially not against someone as skilled, strong and focused as Bivol. We expect to see Richards have some moments early on. He's awkward enough to have some success. But as the rounds go on and the tock ticks away Bivol will get a read on his man, then begin to break him down, grind away at him, and, eventually, beat him into submission. In fact we wouldn't be surprised at all if Bivol manages to score his first stoppage in 3 years and ends a 4 fights decision win. Prediction - TKO9 Bivol  The Light Heavyweight division is one with a lot of interesting match ups that could be made, and a very interesting title picture. Sadly though we do, even with the talent in the division, get the occasional bout that doesn't really appeal. On October 12th we get one such bout as WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (16-0, 11) takes on the unheralded Lenin Castillo (20-2-1, 15) from the Dominican Republic.
On paper this doesn't look awful, though in reality it is a step backwards for Bivol, and is a long way from the type of bouts fans had been hoping for from him. After a run of wins over top 15 type guys likes Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr the hope was for Bivol to face one of the division's top, top fighters. Bouts against the likes of Sergey Kovalek, Artur Beterbiev, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Gilberto Ramirez, Jesse Hard or Marcus Browne. As for Castillo it's a huge opportunity for him, and ever a good performance in a loss could enhance his profile going forward. The 28 year old Bivol, who was born in Kyrgyzstan, has been on the radar of fans for a few years and he was aggressively matched early on in his career. Unlike many fighters he didn't need easy fights, and instead every one of his pro bouts has come against an opponent with a winning record. When he claimed the WBA "interim" title in May 2016, in just his 7th bout, it was little surprise and since then he has continued to pile up the wins. Sadly though as his competition has stepped up his entertainment level has dropped off. Early in his career Bivol was an technically excellent, aggressive fighter who hunted the stoppage. He through a lot and although it seemed like he was one paced it looked like he wanted to entertain and he wanted to go for stoppages. That was incredibly obvious against Felipe Romero where he turned the screw in the final round despite being in a very clear lead. Sadly since then Bivol has shown more of a focus on winning rather than wowing, taking decision wins, instead of impressing. The focus towards taking the win has made his fights rather samey and dull, and the early excitement of his career has began to fade. Rapidly. He's still incredibly talented, with lovely technical ability, and a solid work rate, but his performances just look uninspired and boring. To many Castillo will be a bit of an unknown, but the 31 year old has actually been around the pro since 2009 and is well travelled, with his international debut coming in 2011. Since his debut he has fought almost half of his career outside of the Dominican republic, with the vast majority of his non-domestic bouts taking place in the US. The most notable of those bouts was his 2018 bout with Marcus Browne, when he lost a clear decision to Browne but showed enough to prove himself as a very capable fighter. In the Browne fight Castillo looked like a very big and strong fighter, with solid power, dropping Browne in round 5, and nice hand speed. The one thing he seemed to lack was real ambition and work rate. When he let his shots fly he looked dangerous, but was far too lazy. Given that this is a huge chance for Castillo we'd hope to see him have more ambition than he did against Browne. If he does than he has the size, power and physical strength to give Bivol real issues. Bivol has the edge in work rate, technique and speed, and we suspect that will be the key, but this is unlikely to be a walk in the park for the champion. We expect to see Bivol using good in and out movement whilst landing with his quicker shots, but we really wouldn't be surprised at all if Castillo has moments against him, and takes more than just a round or two. Bivol's consistency should take him to a clear decision, but this is a legitimate test against a man who will have reach and height advantages and will ask questions of Bivol. Prediction - UD12 Bivol  By - George Delis (@Delisketo)
On March 9th, in Verona, Wisconsin, Dmitry Bivol will defend the WBA Light Heavyweight World Championship against top contender Joe Smith Jr. Dmitry Bivol (15-0/11 KOs) is considered to be one of the top boxers of his division today (currently ranked #3 by the Ring & BoxRec). Boasting an amateur record of 268 wins and only 15 losses, Bivol won numerous titles from 2006 to 2014, including youth and junior World championships, 2 National tournaments as well as gold at the 2013 World Combat Games. Turned pro in 2014 (23 years old) and in 15 months he had already garnered 6 victories, all stoppages. During that time Bivol gained the WBC U.S. Silver & WBA Intercontinental titles, proving his skills early on in his career, while establishing his right hand as a legit threat to anyone that stepped into the ring with him. In May of 2016, the Russian prodigy went toe to toe with the reigning WBA interim World champion Felix Valera, for the Light Heavyweight strap. Valera was also undefeated at the time, standing at 13-0, with 12 stoppages, most of them coming in the first round. Bivol outboxed the champion in every single round, and even dropped him twice, earning a wide unanimous decision and of course the interim championship. Bivol proceeded to defend his belt against Robert Berridge (30-7) and Samuel Clarkson (21-5) in 2 one sided beatdowns, knocking them down three times each before getting the TKO win in the 4th round. He then faced 30 fight veteran Cedric Agnew, in a non title match. Bivol dropped him in 2 minutes of the very 1st round with a fast combination and continued to punishing him until the referee waved the fight off in the 4th. It’s worth mentioning that Agnew’s only KO loss prior to this was against fellow Russian champion Kovalev, who needed 7 rounds to get the job done. In these last 3 bouts, Bivol showcased some excellent bodywork, which we hadn’t seen much from him in the past. After Badou Jack vacated the WBA title, Bivol was promoted to Regular champion. As such, he marked his inaugural title defense over Trent Broadhurst, in November of 2017. The Australian was on a 13 fight winning streak and hadn’t lost in 6 years. Bivol stopped him with a perfectly placed right on the chin, in the very last second of the 1st round. In 2018, Bivol defended his World title thrice, against Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba and Jean Pascal. Barrera got dominated for 12 consecutive rounds, taking shots nonstop until a right hook sealed the deal. Chilemba had already suffered back to back losses to Alvarez, Kovalev and Gvozdyk, thus not proving to be much of a challenge. The most significant out of the three was the former WBC World champion Pascal, who put up a much better fight that the other two, connecting with some good punches through out the fight, but it wasn’t enough overall to take the belt away from Bivol, who systematically picked him apart and got the win one more time. Now for his 5th one, he will have to face a much stronger boxer this time. Joe Smith Jr. (24-2/20 KOs), a bona fide KO artist with knockout power in both of his hands, has finished most of his opponents within 6 rounds. 2019 will mark the young veteran’s 10th anniversary into the sport, as he aims to finally add a World championship to his collection. His first major success came in 2016, when he took on world title contender Andrzej Fonfara (30-5) for the WBC International title. In a surprising turn of events, Smith put the Polish fighter down in the midway of the opening round, before finishing him off with a left & right hook combination a few seconds later. However, Smith’s biggest test came 6 months later, as he was set to go face to face with legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins, in the main event of a Golden Boy show, broadcasted live on HBO. Hopkins, the 2 division World, Lineal & Ring champion, came out of retirement for one last match and the opportunity to go out with a win and another belt. After 8 action packed rounds, Smith shocked the world again when he caught Hopkins with a thunderous left uppercut, which knocked him out of the ring. Unable to respond to the 20 count, Smith was declared the winner, in what definitely must be his most important victory to date. Smith’s momentum was momentarily cut short in 2017 after losing to Sullivan Barrera in a world title eliminator. Despite dropping Barrera in the 1st, he didn’t do enough, as the fight progressed, to get the decision. He returned to action almost a year later (Smith’s jaw was broken in the Barrera match) and completely dominated Melvin Russell, putting himself again in world title contention. This could be Bivol’s toughest fight yet. Smith has the highest KO ratio of any of Bivol’s previous opponents (77%), while he’s also the youngest and the most experienced one, in terms of years competing as a pro. He might not be the most technically sound boxer in the division but he’s certainly one of the strongest punchers. Smith’s style can be described as aggressive, always moving forward, trying to get the KO as soon as possible and that strategy has worked very well for him thus far (minus 2 fights). On the other hand, Bivol is as technically sound as it gets. He never rushes to finish the fight. He stays patient, picking his shots and most times manages to drop his opponent, usually with a well calculated right hand. If he (Bivol’s rival) manages to get back up, then and only then Bivol storms in with incredibly fast (for his weight class) combinations, going for the kill, and if he doesn’t go down again, Bivol disengages and starts over. To conclude with, the only unknown factor here is if Bivol can withstand Smith’s power. If yes, then a 5th successful title defense is almost guaranteed, as he will try to take this to the distance, which will play in his favour, since Smith has never gone to the 12th round. If not, then Smith will be crowned the 43rd WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion ! Either way, we will get our answer this coming Saturday.  The sport of boxing might still be a sport where two fighters hit each other inside a ring trying to either render their opponent unconscious or win a decision, but outside of the ring there is a lot of changes, with one of the biggest ones stateside being HBO's decision to leave boxing. The US television giant was once a cornerstone of boxing television in the US and the premier channel for bouts Stateside. Their long relationship with the sport however comes to end shortly.
One of the very final shows that HBO will air will be headlined by a WBA Light Heavyweight title clash between Kyrgyzstan born Russian champion Dmitry Bivol (14-0, 11) and Haitian born Canadian Jean Pascal (33-5-1-1, 20). It's not the most amazing of bouts, but it should be a good chance for Bivol to end an impressive year and do so against an opponent with some name value, albeit a faded name. The 27 year old Bivol has been impressive ever since making his debut in 2014, against the experienced Jorge Rodriguez Olivera. Unlike many prospects he hasn't been softly matched at all, and he's never faced a fighter with a losing record, in fact the least notable opponent he's faced so far is Yevgenii Makhteienko who surprisingly lasted 10 rounds with Bivol in 2016. In just 14 fights he has already stamped his name as one of the leading fighters at Light Heavyweight, alongside Eleider alvarez, Adonis Stevenson, Badou Jack and Artur Beterbiev. Unlike those others however he's a relative spring chicken at 27 years old, in what appears to be a division full of older men at the top. In the ring Bivol is an aggressive yet technical fighter, who fights to a relatively text book style, but at a very high tempo. He's a crisp, clean puncher, with good variety to his work, an excellent output and under-rated defense. If we're being honest the most impressive thing about him isn't his high output, but the fact he can keep it up for all 12 rounds. Sadly he can look a bit predictable, and a smart, well educated and unorthodox fighter can give him problems, as we saw earlier this year against Isaac Chilemba who really tested Bivol, for the first time in his career. We suspect some seasoning, and experience will help there, though there is a feeling that he lacks in terms of ingenuity, and won't be inventive in how he approaches certain opponents. That's not too much of an issue, given his plan A is so effective, but would be one possible improvement for him going forward. At 36 years old Pascal is one of the many Light Heavyweights who are sticking around the top 10 but are past their physical primes. In fact Pascal may be the most war worn and damaged of the older men in the division, given he has had so many tough fights during his 40 fight career. He has been competing around the top of the sport for a decade, with his 2008 war with Carl Froch living long in the memory. Since facing Froch for the WBC Super Middleweight title he has shared the ring with the likes of Adrian Diaconu, Chad Dawson, Bernard Hopkins, Lucian Bute, Sergey Kovalev, Yunieski Gonzalez and Elerider Alvarez. A real who's who. Sadly for Pascal he has taken a lot of punishment in those fights, and was twice stopped by Kovalev. In more recent years those battles have taken a toll on him, and his reliance on heart, natural explosiveness and athleticism has proven to be problematic, as his body has taken significant damage and aged. At his best Pascal was a blood and guts warrior, with heavy hands, real quickness, and an awkward style that depended heavily on his explosiveness. As he's aged his legs have slowed, his hands are not quite as quick as they were, his power's not as effective with the loss of speed and his chin isn't what it once was. He's still awkward, but he's probably about 6 years from his peak, and that's an issue against a young gun like Bivol. At his best Pascal would have made for a very tricky assignment for Bivol. The unorthodox style of Pascal, who regularly leaped in and came at opponents from peculiar angles, would have given the text book style of Bivol real questions to answer. Sadly however this faded Pascal will be unlikely to give Bivol much of a fight, and will instead be expected to be chewed up and stopp in the middle or later rounds, as Bivol moves towards unification contests in 2019.  The Light Heavyweight division is a genuinely interesting one right now, with a lot of potentially exciting match ups to be made, and a lot of heavy handed fighters in and around the top of the division. One of those is the Kyrgyzstan born boxer-puncher Dmitry Bivol (13-0, 11), who looks to make his next defense of the WBA Light Heavyweight title this coming Saturday. In the opposite corner to Bivol will be experienced contender Isaac Chilemba (25-5-2, 10), who is essentially in last chance saloon at the top of the division.
Bivol has been fast tracked since making his professional debut, thanks to a strong amateur background that included more than 280 bouts. Ever since his debut in November 2014 he has been matched tough and allowed to hone his skills against good competition. Whilst he has honed his abilities that's not to ignore the fact that he is naturally heavy handed, has a great engine and a good boxing brain. In May 2016 he claimed the WBA interim title, and would go on to claim the full version the following year. In his most impressive performance so far Bivol scored a 12th round TKO win over Cuban fighter Sullivan Barrera. That performance showed Bivol putting it all together. His shots were crisp through out, he showed he could box at a high pace for 12 rounds, and rather than cruise to a decision he hunted the stoppage, becoming the first man to take out Barrera. What was supposed to be a testing bout for Bivol was made to look easy by the 27 year old, who now appears to be on a collision course with Sergey Kovalev, who will be defending the WBO title on the same card. The 32 year old Malawian born South African based Chilemba has long been a leading contender at 175lbs. Early in his career he was happy to make a name for himself in South Africa, where he fought his first 17 bouts and went going 15-1-1 (8), whilst avenging his sole defeat. Whilst many of his opponents in South Africa were relatively unknown they did include a win over the then 20-0 Doudou Ngumbu and a draw with Thomas Oosthuizen. Since then he has gone 10-4-1 whilst fighting on the road in all but 1 of those bouts. On the road he has scored upset wins against Maksim Vlasov, Debis Grachev, Vasily Lepikhin abd Blake Caparello, as well as fighting to a draw with Tony Bellew. Sadly for Chilemba he's a very old 32 who has gone 24 with Bellew, 12 hard rounds with Eleider Alvarez, and 12 hard rounds with Sergey Kovalev and and was stopped in 2016 by Oleksandr Gvozdyk. The losses to Alvarez, Kovalev and Gvozdyk have come in 3 of his last 4 bouts and he has scored only a single win, the one over Caparello, in the last 3 years. At his best Chilemba was a nightmare to fight, he was slippery, slick, tricky and sharp. Sadly though he has shown wear and tear in recent bouts and with inactivity and age his reactions will have slowed. At his best Chilemba would have been able to give fits to Bivol with his movement and control of distance. Sadly though this beyond prime version of Chilemba will be hard pushed to survive with the champion who we suspect will chip away at the challenge before ramping up the tempo and stopping him in the final third of the bout. Chilemba was a very good fighter once, but we really can't see how this current version survives, or competes, with the rising force that is Dmitry Bivol.  This coming Saturday is another big one for boxing fans, who really are having a great few weeks recently. For us the most significant single bout takes place at the legendary Madison Square Garden, as WBA Light Heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (12-0, 10) defends his title against Cuban Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14) in a highly interesting, and potentially explosive, contest.
The Cuban challenger is 36 and will likely see this as his only chance to win a world title, after being some what of an avoided man through much of his career. He turned professional in 2009 but it wasn't until 2015 that he faced a notable name, the then shot to pieces Jeff Lacy. That was Barrera's 15th professional bout and even then he was 32 and likely just on the end of his physical prime. Since then however he has gone 6-1 (4) and scored noteworthy wins over Karo Murat, Joe Smith Jr, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy and Felix Valera,whilst suffering his sole loss to Andre Ward. In the ring Barrera doesn't fight like a typical Cuban. It seems like he knows he needs to be fun to watch, and can't rely on just winning, but instead needs to make fans want to watch him. That has certainly been the care in his biggest fights, as we've seen him down, we've seen him slug out with fighters and have some thrilling fights. We've seen serious question marks left over Barrera's chin, and he's been down against Ward, Shabranskyy, Smith and Valera, but he's shown real bravery and toughness to recover and often look to get revenge. Although skilled Barrera seems to be happy to have a fight with opponents and can be dragged into a war. This can be really exciting, but shows both the strengths and weaknesses of Barrera. He can be hurt, but has the speed, the toughness and the machismo to have a firefight and come out on top. He also has the skills to counter an opponent who happy to engage him, whilst also having rhe boxing skills to get out of range and toy with lesser fighters, who are perhaps too dangerous to have a war with. Russian based Bivol, originally from Kyrgyzstan has been one of the sports fastest rising stars. He debuted in late 2014 and went through very stiff competition early on, doing so in very impressive fashion. Around 18 months after his debut he took a wide decision over Felix Varela for the WBA interim title and essentially announce himself as a fringe world class fighter. Since then he has gone 5-0 (4), defending the interim title twice and claiming the regular title. He has looked even more like a star than he was in his early bouts, and impressed fans in Europe, Russia and North America, with solid wins against the likes of Robert Berridge, Cedric Agnew and Trent Broadhurst. In the ring Bivol looks like a natural born destroyer. He has the typical edge associated with fighters from former Soviet countries. He has the nasty, brutal yet effortless power, associate with Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev, and just like those two he is technically very solid. He has a high work rate, a seemingly solid chin, and whilst he is perhaps lacking the experience needed find the holes of a defensive genius he looks like a fighter who can simply break the defense, through sheer bloody mindedness and work rate. We've yet to see how Bivol fares against real world class opposition. However the eye suggests he can go a very long way. We've never really seen him break a sweat, be put under any problems or struggle in any way, other than struggle to stop one or two foes. It could be that he can't make that next step, it might be that he can't handle top quality pressure or that he simply isn't as good as he looks. The reality though, seems to be that he is something very special. Barrera might ask a lot of new questions of Bivol. He is the first real world class opponent that Bivol will have faced. However we suspect that Bivol will have answers to question Barrera asks, and the power, work rate and skills to not only hurt the Cuban but finish him off. Barrera certainly has the skills to trouble Bivol, but his chin has caused him issues in the past against lesser opponents, and we suspect that Bivol won't let him off the hook like some of those other opponents have done, so far.  The Light Heavyweight division is one of the divisions which has a lot of talent in it's ranks, and has fans waiting for the top men to face each other and let us really know who is the best at 175lbs. Fighters like Adonis Stevenson, Sergey Kovalev and Badou Jack are the top names whilst contenders continue to mount, with the likes of Eleider Alvarez, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Artur Beterbiev and Marcus Browne all looking for a shot at the top.
Another fighter looking to announce himself as a top divisional fighter is WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (11-0, 9), a Kyrgyzstan born Russian based boxer-puncher who recently claimed the WA title when Jack chose to vacate rather than give Bivol his long awaited Mandatory title shot. The talented 26 year old Bivol will be up against once beaten Australian Trent Broadhurst (20-1, 12),with the two men fighting in Monaco. Of the two fighters it's obviously Bivol who enters as a fighter looking to make a statement. From his debut in November 2014 it was clear that Bivol was going to be fast tracked. That fast tracking saw Bivol fight for the WBA interim title in just his 7th bout, after just 29 rounds of professional action. He would go on to claim that interim title with a win over the previously unbeaten Felix Valera. Sadly as an interim champion Bivol failed to make the most of his title, only defending it once, though it was clear he was chasing a full world title fight. Sadly he wouldn't get a shot due to the politics of the sport,but would be upgraded when Badou Jack decided Bivol wasn't worth the ring of a mandatory defense. Although yet to score a career defining win Bivol has been consistently impressing. He's shown really consistent and intelligent pressure with a very good work rate, very solid power and smart pressure. He's yet to be given a real chin check, and hasn't faced anyone with the IQ or skills to make his pressure work against him, but when he's had to show some variety he has managed. It should be noted though that he has shown a bit of a 1-paced fighting style and does sometimes struggle when fighters use a good defense, though they have often been left handcuffed by Bivol's constant work, as seen when Bivol beat Cedric Agnew. Whilst Bivol is viewed by many as the heir apparent for the Light Heavyweight division the 29 year old Broadhurst is seen as the lamb to the slaughter. The Australian challenger has yet to fight above Australian domestic level, with his sole loss being a 5th round KO defeat to Robert Berridge in 2011, who was himself stopped in 4 rounds by Bivol. Whilst some may suggest the loss to Berridge was more than 6 years ago there really isn't much on Broadhurst's record to show he's developed beyond the likes of Berridge. He does hold wins over the shop work Nader Haman, the crude Rob Powdrill, and the under-sized Affif Belghecham. One thing that has impressed is the fact he's shown solid power, but at best that power is only “solid”. In the ring Broadhurst is a bit simple, he can apply pressure and does have some nice combinations and head movement, but it's more the fact that those things look better at domestic level than they will when he faces Bivol. It's easy to throw combinations that look nice against limited foes who aren't throwing back. He has been forced on to the back foot before and seems very unsure of himself when he is forced backwards. He's looked flawed on the lower tiers and whilst we have seen fighters step up when t mattered they had usually shown some tools of note, whilst Broadhurst hasn't and has looked very basic so far. It really is hard to see anything but a showcase win for Bivol here in front of an audience in Monaco and TV cameras from the UK. Broadhurst might have to fleeting moments, but Bivol will quickly put an end to Broahurt's ambition before breaking him down and stopping him. We don't imagine the Aussie will willingly roll over, but we don't see how he will be able to cope for long with the pressure and power of Bivol, who really is something special.  Over the last year or two we've seen the Light Heavyweight division really explode into life with the emergence of some vicious punchers and aggressively minded destroyers. One of those is WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who decimated Chad Dawson last year, one is Artur Beterbiev, who completely steam rolled Tavoris Cloud earlier this year, and the other is Russian destroyer Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23).
This weekend sees Kovalev taking part in his most significant bout to date as he battles against American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2-2, 32) in a bout to unify the WBO title, held by Kovalev, with the WBA "super" and IBF titles that are currently held by Hopkins. For both men this is a chance to solidify their claim as the premier Light Heavyweight on the planet, despite the fact Stevenson holds the "linear" title, though there is so much more to this bout than just that claim and the three titles. For Kovalev this is his chance to really break through and go from heavy handed and exciting fighter to a legend killer, in fact if he stops Hopkins there will be few doubting his credentials as one of the most destructive fighters of his era. For Hopkins however this is a chance to further prove that he is one of the all-time greats and that he really will defeat father time and go out on his terms, not when others tell him he should. Of the two men it's Hopkins who is the better known fighter, after all his 65 fight career has seen him do it all and more in a career that spans more than 25 years and has seen him unifying titles at both Middleweight and Light Heavyweight. Aged 49 he has really staved off the aging process better than any other fighter and proven himself against more top class fighters than anyone else of his era, which has been a distinctly long one. The veteran fought his first world title fight in 1993 though came up short to fellow future Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr. Less than two years later he claimed his first world crown in after stopping Segundo Mercado and would later add the WBC, WBA and WBO titles to become the first fighter to fully unify a division. In 2006 he moved up to Light Heavyweight and dominated Antonio Tarver, since then he has become a 2-time Light Heavyweight world title holder winning the WBC title in his first reign before claiming the IBF title last year, then adding the WBA title this year with his win over Beibut Shumenov. Amazingly a win over Kovalev would see Hopkins becoming the first fighter to win all 4 major titles in 2 separate divisions. As a fighter Hopkins is a historic fighter though he's also a frustrating one. In the ring h's incredibly highly skilled, very intelligent and knows what a fighter is going to do before they do it, but he is also very negative, holds, spoils and seems to be more capable of lulling an opponent to sleep then knocking them out. It's been that ability more than any other that has allowed him to remain so competitive at such an age and over-come younger fighters like Shumenov and the somewhat poor Karo Murat. Through his sensational career only one thing has really bothered Hopkins, speed. His 5 high profile losses so far have all come against speedy fighter in the form of Roy Jones Jr, Jermain Taylor, twice, Joe Calzaghe and Chad Dawson and it's fair to say that he has avoided some other quicker fighters due to these losses. Despite that he has continued to fight good fighters, just slower ones. In Kovalev we have a fighter who really emerged on the world scene last year by destroying a talented foursome of Gabriel Campillo, Cornerlius White, Nathan Cleverly and Ismayl Sillah in a combined 12 rounds. Those four fights took Kovalev from relative obscurity to WBO world champion and he has quickly become one of the sports must watch fighters due to intense offensive mentality and crushing power, power that has seen him dubbed "The Krusher". Since winning the WBO belt Kovalev has continued to enhance his reputation through 2014 with two more earlier victories as he took out the unbeaten pairing of Cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello in a combined 9 rounds to continue his destruction of the division. In total he has now stopped his last 9 opponents in a combined 33 rounds and it's worth noting that hose opponents had a combined record of 184-26-6 with 3 of the men being unbeaten fighters. Aged 31 Kovalev is coming into his prime money making years and knows that he needs a win over Hopkins to continue that. That however is easier said than done and Kovalev certainly isn't a speedster like those that have typically over-come Hopkins. Instead Kovalev is a very heavy handed pressure fighter who bring educated pressure, a lot of punches and heavy hands to the ring. His shots aren't thrown as hayemakers but all heavy handed with every shot coming with real force despite many looking like little more than stay busy arm punches. Although not the most skilled he is among the most devastating. The bout is stylistically very interesting with Hopkins's sharp but negative boxing put against the come forward and intelligent pressure of Kovalev. If Kovalev does manage to fight his usual style he should win, likely by stoppage, though Hopkins always seems to get fighters out of their game plan and fighting his style of fight. If he does that again here then he will likely lull Kovalev into inactivity and take a clear decision himself. It really is a case of whether or not Kovalev can fight his fight or not. If he has too much respect for Hopkins then the old master will do it again and will celebrate his 50th birthday next year as a triple title holder however if Kovalev fights like his usual self and with his typical "I don't give a shit" attitude then we suspect the Russian will become the biggest thing in the Light Heavyweight division, at least for now. (Image courtesy of Goldenboy Promotions) |
World Title Previews
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