Bivol’s engagement key for Beterbiev’s rematch

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

Bivol, 33, needs to step up his punch in the rematch and not around the ring as much as he did in the first bout. It seemed to many fans that he was running away from the fight, and it gave the appearance that Bivol was in survival mode for the entire 12-round contest.

What should Bivol do in the restart?

• Stay in your pocket and participate
• Increases punch output
• Don’t hold back and run
• Show courage

Bivol’s minimalist approach

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

Former WBA 175-pound champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) lost to Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision two months ago on October 12. 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, are getting a rematch.

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 22.

Engage to win

Hopefully, Bivol will come to fight this time because he showed no willingness to commit to Beterbiev once he started pressing relentlessly from the sixth round. It was hard to watch last time.

Bivol has been aggressive when fighting smaller fighters, but he looked scared 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 kept moving for the final four rounds to earn a decision He looked scared of Arthur.

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🎥 @bivol_d | #BetterbievBivol2 | #Riyadh season | February 22 | Live on Dazn | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/Oh6SD0laxL

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