For now, the discussion of Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev is still ongoing, and the battle for the undisputed 175-pound light heavyweight division ended with a narrow points victory for Beterbiev. However, many fans and media believe that Bivol should be the ultimate victor because he was smarter and deserved to beat his opponent, but unfortunately he was hacked.
This week, former coach Teddy Atlas, who coached boxing champion Mike Tyson, responded to a question about the black whistle of the Bivol vs. Beterbiev fight. In Atlas's opinion, Bivol was not hacked because he was so negative at the start of the middle game that he was completely suppressed by Beterbiev throughout the second half and therefore not enough to win.
Atlas pointed out that Bivol was indeed quite good at the beginning of the big game, causing some problems for his opponents, but Beterbiev never took his foot off the gas pedal after he started attacking, that is, he kept attacking Bivol, and Bivol was unable to recover from the pressure in this situation.
"When Beterbiev wants to make the opponent go downhill, he keeps you downhill," Atlas said. Beterbiev has maintained a ferocious offensive posture, and he has taken over Bivol. ”
Atlas believes that Beterbiev was more about adapting to the rhythm in the first half of the game, and when he got the hang of it, he wasn't ready to let his opponent escape. In Atlas's view, Bivol's agile movement played a key role, and Beterbiev didn't fully adapt until the end, but his high-density attacks neutralized Bivol's advantage while impressing the referee, which was a key factor in the victory.
Atlas said: "When Betbyev kept chasing Bivol, Bivol was not relieved. Beterbiev's strategy in the second half of the game was to attack close to Bivol and not let the opponent escape, like glue on Bivol, so that he could not get it off his body. ”
Atlas is still very well said, according to technical statistics, Beterbiev's number of hits and hit rate are not as good as his opponent's, but the number of punches is far ahead of Bivol, which shows a problem, Bivol's strategy and performance are not problematic, but unfortunately there is some negativity, Beterbiev may not be able to effectively hit the opponent hard, but use the most primitive and pure way to take the lead. What Bivol needs to complain about is that he doesn't stand up for a tight fight other than high-quality punches, but if he goes head-to-head with Beterbiev, he's expected to be knocked out nine times out of ten.
Boxing columnist Daniel McGrinch believes that whoever wins the Bivol vs. Beterbiev battle will be controversial because the fight is very close, both fighters have certain shortcomings, and Bivol lost the fight because there was no outstanding behavior under the pressure of Beterbiev.
McGrinch said: "Bivol's rapid movement was more about defending himself, he wanted to win on points, but unfortunately after the middle game, Bivol gave up a lot of things, it was more like a long and frustrating retreat. Beterbiev's shortcomings were that he started late and didn't adapt to Bivol any faster. Bivol's shortcomings were that he was on the defensive in the second half of the game, with only occasional good attacks, which were not enough to help him win against Beterbiev. ”