On Saturday, December 23 in Saudi Arabia, WBA-Super light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol will return to the ring after a break that lasted more than a year. The Russian’s opponent will be Briton Lyndon Arthur, the current IBO world champion. For our boxer, this is already the second confrontation in his professional career with a representative of Foggy Albion. In the first case, we managed to win, although that fight cannot be called simple.

The judges made Bivol’s fans nervous.

“This is the birthplace of boxing”

In October 2019, Russian Dmitry Bivol made his first defense of the WBA Super championship belt in Chicago, and then did not enter the ring in official fights for more than a year and a half. On May 1, 2021, the 30-year-old boxer was in Manchester, where he intended to break the long pause. A fight awaited him with local athlete Craig Richards, the current British champion.

“The fact that the fight is taking place in England is also important to me. This is the birthplace of boxing, and one of the points in my career was to hold a fight in the UK. And now this desire comes true. They love boxing in this country, I would like to show my abilities in front of this audience,” the press service of the Russian Boxing Federation quoted Bivol as saying.

The favorite in this pair was, of course, the Russian. Neither the champion’s long downtime nor the British fans’ support for the challenger made the bookmakers believe in Bivol’s failure. Richards, of course, was not a “bag”, but his record already had draws and defeats, and among the opponents he beat there were no big names.

“I understand that I am the favorite in the upcoming fight. I’m a champion and I have to beat fighters like Richards if I want to move on to other title fights. But I don’t allow myself to relax and treat my opponent with respect. They didn’t take him off the street and bring him to box, but he won the British champion belt,” the Russian Boxing Federation quoted Bivol before the fight.

Diverse arsenal

The confrontation between Bivol and Richards warmed up the main fight of the evening, in which local heavyweight Dereck Chisora ​​had to fight New Zealander Joseph Parker. And I must admit, the two light heavyweights did a good job of stirring up the crowd. The Englishman, superior in size to his opponent, began to act actively in the first round and tried to take the initiative. True, a significant part of his blows flew past or into a block.

Although Dmitry waited in the first round, it became clear that he should not have any big problems due to downtime. He moved well and defended. And when after the first break the Russian increased his speed, it became clear that he was clearly superior to the Briton in class. Richards tried to use a jab, but Bivol used the same weapon just as well, and in general acted much more diversely, using his entire arsenal.

Dmitry Bivol / Photo: © Francois Nel / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The Russian’s combinations looked impressive, and after several rounds a reasonable question arose: what was the challenger going to catch in this fight? Bivol did not work to the limit and at times rested, allowing the Briton to hammer with blows on the block and lose strength. And when Craig took a break, Dmitry answered, and much more effectively. The opponent could only back away and desperately hold his defense against the ropes.

I had to worry

But still it was not a one-wicket fight. In the seventh round, Dmitry tried to change tactics and missed several dangerous blows. In the 10th round, after a series of attacks from Bivol, the Englishman suddenly pulled himself together and delivered a very unpleasant segment for fans of the Russian boxer. The penultimate round turned out to be perhaps the best for the challenger that evening. And yet our boxer controlled the situation, in the final round he again confidently dictated the terms.

The judge’s verdict could hardly bring any surprises, but Bivol’s fans still had to worry. The score in the judges’ notes: 118-110, 115-113, 115-114. Only one referee recognized Dmitry’s superiority. The Russian himself was generally satisfied with his 18th victory and another successful defense.

— It was a difficult fight for me. Richards is a very smart boxer. He knew how to deal with me in the ring. But for such a long layoff of a year and a half, I think I performed well,” Bivol said after the fight on DAZN.

In the upcoming fight, Bivol will have less downtime, and the British boxer won’t have to count on home refereeing. Let’s hope that Dmitry will confidently win his next victory and not make his fans overly worried.