Hall of Famer Tim Bradley praised Dmitry Bivol’s tactics in his rematch win over Artur Beterbiev this past weekend for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.
“Bivol – wow. That’s probably one of the best strategies I’ve seen since Ali-Foreman, the rope-a-dope,” Bradley said on his personal YouTube channel.
In the middle rounds of the rematch, Beterbiev looked to be controlling the action with damaging shots, moving and hurting Bivol visibly with his power punches. That was earlier than in their first fight, when Beterbiev only had that measure of success in the championship rounds. The fact that he was getting to Bivol earlier in the rematch suggested a repeat victory.
Instead of fading, Bivol surged in the eighth round and shellacked Beterbiev with combinations while evading the worst of what came back.
“[Bivol] allowed Beterbiev to get comfortable,” Bradley said. “He allowed him to let his hands go. […] He allowed him to work.
“He figured that if he’s in the later rounds, he was able to absorb whatever Beterbiev dished out the first time, he should be able to absorb it while he’s fresh. So towards those middle rounds, he downshifted.”
Whereas in the first fight Beterbiev finished with a fierce kick, sweeping the championship rounds on all three cards, Bivol controlled most of the late rounds in the rematch. Despite a final spurt from Beterbiev in the 12th round, he looked tired and wore the brunt of Bivol’s offense on his face.
“Remember, Beterbiev is 40 years old,” Bradley said.
“I think it was round seven, middle of the round, when [Bivol] started to stand his ground. He stopped moving back. And he started to feel the power, it wasn’t as damaging as it once was. […] All of a sudden, I see Beterbiev start to slow his pace.”
By the time Beterbiev realized Bivol’s tactic, Bradley opined, it was too late for him to recover his spent energy reserves.
“Just that quick shift in tempo, with the combinations and slight movement left and right, those 40-year-old legs, they couldn’t keep up,” he said.
The strategy resembled Oleksandr Usyk’s in his first fight with Tyson Fury. In that fight, Usyk lost a string of rounds to Fury and was down on the scorecards, only to hurt Fury and win the late rounds en route to a close decision victory.
Though Bivol didn’t have to deal with an enormous size disadvantage, his win was more impressive in other ways: Beterbiev’s concussive power and near-perfect knockout ratio make him a perilous opponent to allow to get into a groove. Yet Bivol walked the tightrope, somehow preserving enough punch resistance and gas to pull away down the stretch.
“That gameplan was fire,” Bradley said. “I did not expect that whatsoever. […] I thought it was done after seven. […] This was just smart boxing. Smart boxing. Shout-out to Bivol and his team.”
