From the time he started boxing as a six-year-old, Dmitry Bivol has drawn inspiration by wondering what it’d be like to be considered the best boxer in the world.
As he lifted himself up the fight game’s proverbial ladder, he paused to observe the seemingly effortless brilliance of his favorite fighter, Roy Jones Jr., who fittingly dominated the light-heavyweight division where Bivol reigns today.
“If it wasn’t for Roy Jones, maybe I would not be here, because I learned from, and enjoyed, his fights,” Bivol told BoxingScene and ProBox TV in a Monday interview.
“I watched him and enjoyed how light he was in the ring, how much he enjoyed being in the ring. It was a joy for him to be in there. He was not just going in there to survive, was not working hard, having drama. No, he was enjoying the fight. I liked seeing this.”
Those who prepare best, Bivol reasoned, are the ones who take the hardness out of an otherwise brutal night in the ring.
“I’m trying to enjoy the process as well,” Bivol said.
That explains how effectively Bivol previously dissected four-division champion Canelo Alvarez two years ago, refusing to wilt in the face of Alvarez’s best punches while repeatedly peppering the face of boxing with a steady dose of hard right hands that dictated the bout and paced the unanimous-decision victory.
And now comes the next step up, Saturday’s showdown in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed light heavyweight championship against unbeaten three-belt champion and Russian countryman Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs).
To realize that childhood dream, Bivol trained in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan for nearly a month, then kept things rugged with a 45-day camp in Turkey.
Savage. Brutal. Intimidating.
All words that describe Beterbiev.
And all the attributes of a training camp that Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) conquered, hoping it will allow him to prevail in the style he so long has admired of Jones.
“To be honest, all my skills should be at the highest level. Not only speed. Not only movement. Everything. My jab. My right hand. My strength. To be aware of danger,” Bivol said. “Everything needs to be at the highest level.”
Bivol arrives at the fight in peak shape. He was due to fight Beterbiev June 1, but the three-belt champion suffered a ruptured meniscus in early May, prompting Bivol to take a replacement fight against Malik Zinad, whom he finished by sixth-round TKO.
Beterbiev is saying he’s fully healed from the knee injury and doesn’t feel any ill effects of being 39 years old. Beterbiev produced a patented, destructive showing in his most recent bout, dismantling former super-middleweight champion Callum Smith with power shots to set up a seventh-round TKO victory in Quebec City.
Knowing how Beterbiev repeatedly beats down his opponents systematically, he was asked how he will handle an onslaught.
“I don’t know, to be honest,” Bivol said, chuckling. “We will see. Of course, I can see how he’s done what he’s done and I’ve tried in training to be ready for all of this. I’ve been practicing. In training, we talk a lot about the fight: How it will go on, what I need to be ready. The real fight will show.”
Does Bivol need to taste the famed Beterbiev power to know if he can withstand it?
Smartly, he says he’s rather avoid that.
“It’s not nice to get punched. Believe me, it’s not good to take a punch … just to understand whether I can take a punch or not,” Bivol said.
“Even an easy punch can be dangerous. Strong punches might not bury you.”
In a dual-meaning response that follows Bivol being criticized by his wife, Kate, for depriving his two children of financial support, the fighter said, “Like in life, the hardest punch is the one you’re not expecting.”
Although his knockout percentage is lacking by Beterbiev’s 100% standard, Bivol said his answer is knowing he’s fully prepared for a 12-round fight.
“I’m not an amazing puncher like him, but still I have some punch,” he said. “I could land some good ones on him.”
Should he emerge victorious, Bivol will be hailed as an undisputed champion, a conqueror of Canelo, a pound-for-pound elite, and he’ll have his choice of accepting an Alvarez rematch (if Canelo truly wants it), taking on the winner of the just-announced battle of unbeaten light heavyweights David Benavidez-David Morrell (with Benavidez standing as his WBC mandatory challenger) or making a move to cruiserweight.
“If everything goes to plan and we’re successful, we’ll be in position for another big fight,” Bivol manager Vadim Kornilov said. “I always knew from the time I met Dmitry that he was never a boxer fighting only to be a champion. Dmitry is after challenges. To know him, I’d expect that he’ll go after whatever’s the toughest challenge, whichever fight that may be.
“Benavidez and Canelo are the two toughest fights after this fight.”
Kornilov thinks it’s ominous that unified super-middleweight champion Alvarez did not immediately take a Bivol rematch after losing to him, and then proceeded on a path that has led him to fight former junior-middleweight champions Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia before meeting Edgar Berlanga (in his first title fight) in September.
“He didn’t want to redeem himself or he would’ve came and spoken to us,” Kornilov said of Alvarez. “I do believe that Canelo – now that he doesn’t have too many options left – may be interested, but I think Canelo is just playing that card as he needs to. But I don’t believe it’s his priority.”
Bivol declined to even mention a future opponent.
“I don’t think about any fight other than Beterbiev. I have nothing in my mind about planning something else,” Bivol said. “I know if everything goes well I will have other fights, much easier than [Saturday’s]. That’s why I’m focusing on nothing other than Beterbiev.”
Kornilov said the Alvarez fight is proof that the sport’s best challenges bring out the best in Bivol.
Bivol concurs, noting the additional incentive of fighting to stand as the king of kings.
“Yes, it will be great for my ego, my [legacy], to be [considered] the best in this game, in boxing. I want to be the best and get the respect from the boxing society and fans,” he said.
“I always have conversations in my head that I deserve to be the best. From six years old, I’ve worked hard. I beat a lot of good fighters. I have good skills. Because I’ve wanted to be the best. I will not win this fight just because I’m Dmitry. I have to work hard and work right. Then, I will have the chance to be a winner. This is what I have in my head.”