Light Heavyweight Champ Bivol Reflects on Sparring Sessions with Benavidez Ahead of Beterbiev Unification Fight
Dmitrii Bivol, the reigning Light Heavyweight titleholder, recently opened up about his past sparring experiences with David Benavidez, who is eyeing a move up to the 175-pound division. This comes as Bivol prepares for his highly anticipated unification showdown against Artur Beterbiev later this month.
Benavidez, the undefeated Super Middleweight contender, made headlines over the weekend with his dominant performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the co-main event of the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin fight card in Las Vegas. Despite the victory, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) stated that his future lies at Super Middleweight, but he expressed a desire to be “that dominant fighter who dominates both weight classes” – a bold claim that includes setting his sights on the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol bout for the undisputed Light Heavyweight championship.
Reflecting on his previous sparring sessions with Benavidez, the 33-year-old Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) said, “I remember we had a couple of sparring sessions. I remember it was some good moments from my side, some good moments from his side. But you know, it’s sparring. You do some things which your coach told you – you should do this and this. One round, you couldn’t do it. Another round, you try to do this. On the third round, you can do it once only, and you feel like you win this sparring because you did what your coach asked you.“
Bivol further emphasized that sparring is about improvement rather than winning or losing. “I respect him as a fighter,” Bivol told FightHub TV. “He’s a really great fighter, and what he’s saying – that he wants to fight me and Beterbiev – it means that he’s a great fighter. He’s confident and he wants to achieve more and more. It’s good.“
The highly anticipated Beterbiev-Bivol unification bout is set to take place on October 28th, with the winner set to become the undisputed Light Heavyweight champion.
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