‘Today I see only move down for belt’: Dmitry Bivol talks about his future plans
Dmitry Bivol is only interested in fighting at 175 or a potential move down to 168 if a world title presents itself.
Light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol spends some time talking to Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV and touches on a number of subjects including a failed rematch with Canelo, adapting his training as he gets older, and a few other upcoming matchups. Check out some excerpts of what had to say below.
Bivol on why no rematch with Canelo took place, and manager Vadim Kornilov supposedly being provided an underwhelming offer for the rematch
“I’m not sure that we got offer because my team didn’t talk to me about it. Maybe (Canelo’s team) were connected with Vadim about the same offer (as the first fight). But if they are connected with him, of course I agree with him.”
On how he believes Anthony Yarde performed against Artur Beterbiev
“He’s really interesting opponent. I see he’s progressing...he’s getting better and better, how I see Yarde. He was better than he was against Kovalev.
“He was good until he got punched.”
On the feeling that Beterbiev might be declining based on the Yarde fight
“It’s hard to say. You want to ask me, maybe, ‘he’s getting worse?’...you know, for me, I try to give more benefit (of the doubt) for Yarde, that’s he’s getting better...I try to see like this, it makes me more focused.
“If I say ‘oh, Yarde is not good fighter’, Artur is getting worse, he’s older now,’ it’s not good for me. It’s not good for my focus.”
On if he has an age he expects to retire by
“40 years old, no boxing. 100%. But to be honest I don’t have a number of age in my head. I have some feelings, I just have some feelings inside of me. I want a belt. Belts, belts. I don’t know when I can get this belt...”
On if a move up to cruiserweight is one of his goals
“Today I see only move down for belt, (or) only fight in my weight class. Now, today, I see this, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow...
“This is not a big difference between 175 and 168. This big difference is between 175 and 200.”