Legendary boxing trainer and fight analyst Teddy Atlas has made his prediction ahead of the hotly-anticipated undisputed light-heavyweight title showdown between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol,.
Beterbiev decimated Callum Smith over seven rounds last week, and now newfound boxing catalyst Turki Al-Sheikh announced his intentions of putting the fight together in Saudi Arabia, despite recent difficulties due to the WBC’s stance on Russian athletes.
On his YouTube channel, Atlas predicted that Bivol would come out on top, and explained exactly why he has the edge.
“I think that Bivol beats him. I think that Bivol controls range, he counter-punches well, he is defensively very solid but here is the most important reason why I give Bivol a chance – he is mentally solid too.
“You have got to be mentally solid, forget about the physical stuff, yeah you have got to be good, but that brain has got to be surrounded by titanium.
“I don’t mean to keep the blows from hurting you, I mean to keep the pressure from sinking you, melting you, evaporating you. He has got that warrior spirit, he has got it, he just approaches it differently [to Beterbiev], he uses different weaponry, that’s all.”
Atlas went on to state what he believes will be a very key factor if the fight takes place.
“The choice of the referee will be very important, if I was involved with these fighters, I would be on top of that.
“If I am Beterbiev, I better get a referee that allows me to fight when I get close, otherwise I am dead. If I am Bivol then I better get a referee that is maybe inclined to let you tie up a little bit, not that Bivol won’t fight you when he has to, he will.”
Al-Sheikh has declared that we will speak to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum with the hope of hosting the fight this June or July, likely in Riyadh.