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Steve KimESPN
In August, Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his WBA light heavyweight title versus Isaac Chilemba. Bivol, who makes the first defense of his crown against Jean Pascal on Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, won rather handily on that summer night.
But oftentimes in boxing, it’s not if you win, but how you do so. While he was dominant on the scorecards (120-108, twice, and 116-112), the 27-year-old Bivol showed that despite his impressive early run as a professional he is still a bit green and in need of seasoning.
“It was more tricky than I expected,” Bivol told ESPN about his 12-round experience with the cagey Chilemba, who has been stopped only once in 33 pro bouts. “He really is a tricky fighter and he’s fast and he’s very aware, he adapted to me.”
It did seem in the early rounds that Bivol, who trains at the Churchill Boxing Club in Santa Monica, California, and who went into the fight in August with a string of impressive stoppages, would score one versus Chilemba, shaking him a few times while landing solid right hands. But being the crafty boxer that he is, Chilemba started to consistently slip that oncoming punch in the second half of the fight and Bivol could never truly get back on track offensively.
Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) promises to make some adjustments against the veteran Pascal.
“I would make my attacks in the beginning of the fight more prolonged,” said Bivol after reviewing the Chilemba fight on video. “I would lengthen my combinations.”
And he has a point; as Chilemba began to neutralize his right cross, Bivol did become a bit one-dimensional in his attack. But his trainer, Gennady Mashianov, seemed to be happy with the win.
“Because I had a dream, like when I was young I saw fights with Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, they’re famous fighters. They’re really great fighters, they really have good boxing skills a lot of stars were on HBO and when I grew up, I thought, ‘I want to be like these guys, I want to be famous, they fight on HBO.”
Dmitry Bivol
“I was happy with the fight, he went by the plan, he didn’t take any unnecessary shots,” said Mashianov through Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov. “He had a clean victory and he did everything I told him to do.”
Bivol is an impressive-looking physical specimen and one that comes with an impressive amateur record. He was moved quickly as he jumped into the paid ranks in late 2014. By his 10th fight, he had knocked out Samuel Clarkson in four rounds to win the interim WBA belt. Later, he was elevated to the full title as Badou Jack vacated the belt to pursue other opportunities. In many ways, the developmental period that so many other boxers go through was skipped by Bivol.
Perhaps going the full distance and having to box his way through a fight patiently was something that was needed.
“That’s something that’s necessary for any fighter, to have to go through it because until you go through the 12- round distance — and he did it with (Sullivan) Barrera — but till you go through it and you kind of feel it out, you’re not a complete pro fighter, in my opinion,” said Kornilov.
Back in March, in his previous fight before Chilemba, Bivol stopped Barrera in the 12th and final round in what was a strong outing. But Barrera, while solid and sturdy, wasn’t nearly as evasive and slippery as Chilemba.
At just 14 fights, Bivol is only scratching the surface of his ability, Kornilov believes.
“He’s only beginning to get there, so that means, how much more can we see?” said Kornilov. “It’s very interesting.”
And even with that, many pundits and educated observers of the sport believe Bivol is already on the cusp of being an elite boxer.
“I think he’s a great fighter, he’s got everything going for him,” said veteran trainer Rudy Hernandez, who has seen Bivol work out many times at the Legendz Boxing gym in Norwalk, California.
But Hernandez, who is as blunt as he is knowledgeable, added, “Except for one thing — he’s never in a hurry to knock guys out as he should.”
For a foreign fighter like Bivol (whose father is Moldovan and mother is Korean, and who resides in St. Petersburg, Russia), Hernandez believes it’s paramount that he score knockouts and be entertaining in order to win over fans. And while Hernandez is a fan of Bivol’s boxing IQ and ability to dart in-and-out and control his opponents with his jab and right hand, he has one little concern.
“He never shifts gears. He seems to be comfortable doing everything that he does and I think if he stepped it up he could be a little more exciting and take guys out sooner than later,” noted Hernandez, who doesn’t buy into Bivol’s relative inexperience.
“How many amateur fights did he have? How old is he?” asked Hernandez. (For the record, Bivol has had over 280 amateur contests, compiling a record of 268-15, while winning a host of international tournaments)
But with that said, Hernandez is a fan.
“I consider him to be the best light heavyweight in the world,” he said of Bivol.
Bivol is no stranger to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, having worked out there many days in the past. He’s one of the few established world champions that still prefers to train in the upstairs portion of the iconic gym alongside the regular clientele rather than the private room downstairs, which in the past has been reserved for the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.
Freddie Roach, who owns the gym, considers Bivol a very good fighter.
“He’s a solid, strong guy. I like Bivol a lot, he works very hard every day in the gym,” said Roach, adding with a chuckle, “Not too many people like to spar with him.”
And he shares Hernandez’s opinion that Bivol is the top guy at 175.
“I believe he’s the best guy out there right now and I think he’s going to continue proving it,” noted Roach.
Bivol is a boxer who will evolve and adapt to the pro game; at his age, there is plenty of time for growth and improvement. Mashianov, when asked what he’s specifically working on with Bivol to improve his overall skill set, hesitated before answering: “There are qualities that we are working to improve, not all of them I want to disclose. They will show in the fight.”
But Mashianov gives a window into his own philosophy of prizefighting and the template he will work off in making Bivol a finished product.
“I’m a big follower of the type of boxing, the style of Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and Sugar Ray Leonard, where the fighter doesn’t take any shots and lands what he plans for,” he stated.
Bivol has said that Leonard is a personal idol of his because of the grace and elegance he possessed in the ring. Many pundits believe that he can follow in the footsteps of other boxers who came from his region of the world, namely Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev. But while ‘GGG’ is a wrecking ball and Kovalev a cold-hearted sniper inside the ring, Bivol is more of a fencer who just happens to have heavy hands.
Will he ever be comfortable mixing it up inside? And will he ever really have to? After all, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Odds are that Bivol will score a KO this weekend as he faces the faded Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KO), who was stopped twice by Kovalev and is now 36 years old and a few years past his prime.
The Bivol-Pascal card is the last edition of HBO’s “World Championship Boxing.” Kornilov notes that Bivol turned down more lucrative offers to fight one last time on the network.
“Because I had a dream, like when I was young I saw fights with Mike Tyson, Roy Jones, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, they’re famous fighters,” said Bivol. “They’re really great fighters, they really have good boxing skills. A lot of stars were on HBO and when I grew up. I thought, ‘I want to be like these guys, I want to be famous, they fight on HBO. I want to, too.’ And now HBO gives me a chance to fight the main event. It’s a dream come true.”