EXCLUSIVE — As he prepares for the 10th defence of his WBA light-heavyweight title, size matters once again for Dmitry Bivol.
In May, he outclassed Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, proving too big and too good for the weight-traversing pound-for-pound superstar, earning a deserved unanimous decision win in Las Vegas.
The size equation will be reversed in Abu Dhabi this week when Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) takes on another Mexican, Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Although he is a former WBO super-middleweight champion, Ramirez is a huge specimen in the 175lbs division and weighed in at over 200lbs on fight night for his previous outing — a fourth-round stoppage of Dominic Boesel a week after Bivol had downed Alvarez.
By that point, the 31-year-old Russian had revealed a more diminutive tormentor to the wider public.
In an interview with Boxing News immediately after the Canelo fight, Bivol said: “It was one of the biggest challenges for me, to fight against the biggest name in boxing. I tried to think, ‘No, it’s not the biggest name, it’s just another defence’. It was really hard work with my mind because every time the little man inside my head said, ‘Hey, you can lose no problem — all the people are against you’.
“But I said to him every time, ‘No, no no! This is my belt, this is just another boxer. Believe it!’. And I believed. Every time I spoke with this little man, it was like two battles. Every time you have a big fight you have this small man inside you getting bigger and bigger.”
Speaking to The Sporting News from Abu Dhabi, where he has based himself since late September, Bivol reported some progress on that front.
“It’s funny you mention this because I only talked about this once,” Bivol chuckled, slightly sheepishly. “But I did not hear so much from this little man before this fight.”
Solving a puzzle that many in boxing had started to feel was impossible, as Bivol did with relative ease against Canelo, is certainly a pretty solid way to build self-assurance.
This was evident in his relaxed and jovial demeanour over the course of a Zoom interview and also in his attitude towards a potential rematch with Alvarez.
If he prevails against Ramirez on Saturday, Bivol vs. Canelo II will stand as one of the most lucrative matchups in the sport. After his victory six months ago, Bivol spoke of his willingness to give Canelo another shot, even entertaining the possibility of trimming down to super-middleweight, where his rival is the undisputed champion.
Alvarez retained those belts with a lopsided win over Gennadiy Golovkin in their September trilogy bout, a fight he opted for ahead of an immediate return with Bivol.
“It could happen, this fight, but it doesn’t motivate me as much as it did before,” Bivol said of a second Canelo showdown.
“Of course, I would take this fight if I don’t have another choice. We could make this fight but it’s not my priority fight now.”
That distinction, for now, rests with Ramirez. A 6ft 2 ½ ins southpaw with an unblemished 44-fight record is nobody’s idea of a straightforward night’s work.
“He has good conditioning, he uses combinations,” Bivol said, perhaps pointedly, given Canelo’s strategy of looking for equalising single shots came up well short in their fight.
“He doesn’t throw single punches, he uses combinations and he’s good on body punches, too.
“It makes the fight more interesting when a bigger guy fights against a smaller guy who is faster. It’s not just fighting between two guys — it’s size against speed.
“It will be a good fight. I wanted to fight him three years ago; I want to beat him. I want to defend my titles and I know he wants to get my titles.”
MORE: Join DAZN to watch Bivol vs. Ramirez
The smart money would be on a high-class encounter going the distance, given Bivol’s career can be split into two distinct chunks.
After being upgraded from interim to full world champion by the WBA in 2017, he cleaned out Australia’s Trent Broadhurst with a showreel one-punch knockout in Monte Carlo. At that point, his record read 12 wins and 10 KOs.
Bivol stopped Sullivan Barrera in the final round of his second defence and seven unanimous decision victories have followed, with the champion’s immaculate footwork, defensive acumen and economical skills to the fore.
“Maybe it’s my opponents getting better, you know. This is one thing,” he said. “Second, I’m not focused on the knockout. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn’t. The last fights, it’s not come!
“I want to, of course, win this fight. I want to make this fight smart, I want to show how good I am. It’s not about only knockouts.”
There could be other factors at play: namely, those that come with age and stark experience. Bivol’s wife and mother don’t watch his fights. As a family, they do not have to look too far to see the grave danger and tragedy that boxing can bring.
In 2018, Bivol’s close friend Maxim Dadashev died following injuries sustained in an IBF super-lightweight title eliminator against Subriel Matias. As detailed in a May interview with the Guardian, Bivol and his wife are neighbours to Dadashev’s widow and son in St Petersburg and acted as a vital support network at that horrific time.
Considering whether such realities have had an impact on his fighting style, Bivol weighed up the twin factors of maturity and fighting instinct — another ongoing battle within the fighter’s psychology.
“When you are older, 100% you are getting more sensitive. More wise, maybe,” he smiled.
“I think about defence more. Of course, you think more about your health because you have kids, your health is not infinite. But sometimes, in the ring, you forget everything. You become an animal, a beast.”
Faced with the formidable challenge posed by Ramirez, it might be left to Bivol’s inner beast to turn up the volume. Perhaps it’s been a bit too quiet since that pesky little man stopped tormenting him.
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