Bivol out to take over at 175
Russia’s Dmitry Bivol made the first defence of his WBA world light heavyweight championship this past weekend. He delivered an emphatic first-round kayo against Trent Broadhurst moving his record to 12-0, as he only enhanced his reputation as one of the biggest one-punch knockout artists in the sport with a sharp, crisp single right hand rendering his opponent unconcious. His promoter, Andrei Ryabinsky of World of Boxing was full of praise for his charge and he believes he has at his disposal, the next big thing in the light heavyweight division.
#AndStill WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol with KO1#wbaboxingpic.twitter.com/RikepzXf0e
— WBA Boxing (@WBABoxing) November 4, 2017
“The Australian is a good boxer, but he had no chance against Dmitry. He was afraid of him,” Ryabinsky said. “Dmitry is better, he read the opponent, and it was clear in the first round how it would end. Dmitry is definitely the leader [in his weight division]. He has the opportunity to collect a lot of belts, if not all of them. Someone might be able to give Bivol substantial resistance – I just don’t see anyone at the moment who could do it,” Ryabinsky said of his light heavyweight charge.
Ryabinsky then touched on the other formidable forces in the division and he has the belief we will soon witness a changing of the guard in the light heavyweight division following the arrival of several young promising talents such as Dmitry Bivol, Badou Jack and Eleider Alvarez to name a few are on the verge of staking their claim in the division. “It will be interesting for us [to hold unification fights], although it will take time. Kovalev and Beterbiev are great boxers, but now young guys like Bivol are coming up in boxing and starting to punch their way to the top,” added Ryabinsky.
The light heavyweight division is currently in disarray following the retirement of the man who was generally considered the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, in the form of Andre Ward (32-0). With that retirement, Ward relinquished his IBF, WBA, WBO and Lineal Light heavyweight titles freeing up space in the division for someone to come in and really stamp their mark in the division. Sergey Kovalev is to do battle with Vyacheslav Shabransky for the vacant WBO world title while Arthur Beterbiev will collide with Germany’s Enrico Kelling for the IBF title.
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