Eddie Hearn Says Bivol’s IQ Good Enough To Outbox Beterbiev

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn believes his fighter, Dmitry Bivol, has a good chance of defeating Artur Beterbiev, using his ring IQ to outbox the knockout artist next week on October 12th.

Hearn says the first six rounds will be important Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) because he’ll have to get Beterbiev’s respect during that time by hitting him hard. This is the fight that Hearn has been ramping Bivil up for since he signed him to Matchroom, and it’s finally here. If Bivol loses, Hearn will need to figure out what to do with him. Fighters like David Morrell and David Benavidez might be interested in taking on Bivol, but would Hearn be open to letting him face those younger guys?

Bivol will stand his ground to do that because the one-two combinations that he throws aren’t going to hold Beterbiev off. Bivol usually throws those without setting his feet because he’s focusing on ensuring that he escapes before he’s hit.

IBF, WBC, and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBA champ Bivol will meet on October 12th in the headliner at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The undercard will be shown live on DAZN. The Beterbiev-Bivol fight will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Hearn says that if Bivol loses, there’s a potential of him moving down to 168 for a rematch with Canelo Alvarez if the Mexican star is interested in fighting him again. Canelo mentioned wanting to fight Bivol recently but for the undisputed championship at 175. It’s unclear whether he’ll want to fight Bivol if he’s coming off a knockout loss to Beterbiev, as there’s no upside.

“Let’s get the win next week. It’s a very tough fight. To beat Beterbiev, you have to do so many things right, but your footwork has to be incredible,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV about what his fighter, Dmitry Bivol, must do to defeat Artur Beterbiev on October 12th.”Your output has to be great. You need to punch hard enough to get the respect, but you got to be so clever with it.”

Bivol has got to do more than just hit and run all night for him to have a chance of beating Beterbiev because that’s not going to work. Beterbiev has fought runners before, and had no problems chasing them down. Bivol has got to show some courage in this fight because he can’t hit and run for 12 rounds, and hope he doesn’t get caught at some point.

“If you don’t stop Beterbiev, he’s going to keep coming,” said Hearn. “Yeah, you might be able to keep him off for four rounds, five rounds, six rounds, but he’s coming. Bivol is the kind of guy that is intelligent enough to do that four 12 rounds. He’s still very dangerous. There’s not many that can, but he can [defeat Beterbiev].

“When you look at what he did against Canelo, and you are talking about one of the greatest fighters of all time. He [Bivol] won that fight quite comfortably, but Beterbiev is a monster,” said Hearn.

Canelo, 5’8″, is a poor example to be used to make a case for Bivol defeating Beterbiev because there’s a difference in size, power, inside fighting ability, and stamina. Beterbiev is a far more advanced fighter than Canelo and with superior skills and stamina. What Bivol did against Canelo means nothing for his fight against Beterbiev.

It’s a thrilling 50-50 fight. Can you keep him off? You’ve got to try and hurt him a little bit. You’ve got to get his respect, but can you keep him off? The first six rounds are going to be very important in that fight,” said Hearn.