Bivol’s Engagement Key To Beterbiev Rematch

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

Bivol, 33, must increase his punch output in the rematch and not much around the ring as much as he did in the first fight. It looked to many fans like he was running from the fight, and that gave the appearance that Bivol was in survival mode from the entire 12-round contest.

What Bivol Must Do In Rematch

Stay in the Pocket & Engage
Increase punch output
Don’t hold and run
Show bravery: This area was missing from Bivol last time.

Bivol’s Minimalist Approach

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

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

Due to fan interest, the promoters, Eddie Hearn at Matchroom & Top Rank and Turki Alalshikh, Bivol is getting a rematch he doesn’t deserve. He should have to earn the rematch because he failed to show bravery in their first fight last October.

He fought just like Shakur Stevenson, who uses the same style and is booed out of arenas. Bivol needs a complete makeover.

In the video clip, Bivol uses a lot of feints and moves his upper body to avoid the imaginary blows coming at him from Beterbiev on February 22nd.

Engage To Win

Hopefully, Bivol comes to fight this time because he showed no willingness to engage with Beterbiev once he started pressuring nonstop from the sixth round. It was hard to watch last time.

Bivol has been aggressive when fighting lesser fighters, but he looked frightened 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 stayed on the move for the final four rounds to win a decision. He looked afraid of Arthur.

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