David Benavidez gives a confident prediction for the highly anticipated rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The current WBC Interim World Light Heavyweight champion gave his insight into the upcoming title fight that will see four belts on the line in his division.
Benavidez also gave his thoughts on the first fight ahead of the rematch.
The first fight would see Beterbiev unify the light-heavyweight world championships when he defeated Bivol via majority decision. However, fans were unhappy with the scorecards for Beterbiev vs Bivol.
David Benavidez predicts the winner of light heavyweight title fight
Benevidez has chosen Bivol to get redemption for his loss to one of the top pound-for-pound boxers, Beterbiev, saying the Russian will end up on top in their second meeting.
Not only did Benevidez pick against the champion, but also felt that Bivol was the rightful winner in their first meeting.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV Benevidez said, “I thought Bivol won that fight, to be honest with you… I felt like Bivol won most of the rounds, he controlled most of the rounds, and his combination punching was better.”
When asked if he thought that Bivol would win the rematch based on his analysis of their first encounter, Benavidez said, “Yeah, I think he does.”
Although Benevidez feels both fighters have the ability to make adjustments to make it a different fight, he says “If it’s the same fight, I feel like Bivol wins.”
Bob Arum expects a different approach from Artur Beterbiev
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum expects a different performance from Beterbiev when he faces Bivol in the rematch.
Speaking to Sky Sports about the first fight, Arum said “There was a bit of debate, it was a very close fight. I thought Beterbiev won that fight… So I think it will be a really good fight.”
“I thought that Beterbiev in the first fight was a little too tentative till the later rounds. I think it will be different this fight.”
Arum also acknowledged that Bivol is the only fighter to ever go the distance with Beterbiev, but feels Beterbiev never plans to hear the final bell.
“The only way he wins every fight that he fought was by knockout and he did not win that fight by knockout. So obviously he would want to win the fight by knockout and he almost had the guy going in the last couple of rounds,” Arum said.
Meanwhile, Top Rank Chairman Todd DuBoef told Sky Sports that he thinks Beterbiev needs to start with more intensity in their rematch. “The question is, does Artur start that earlier? Can he start that in round one?… I think it started maybe more in three or four, where he really started to come on. But start that in round one.”