Legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas thinks Dmitry Bivol will beat Artur Beterbiev in their rematch. Atlas shared his prediction after Beterbiev won their first fight for the undisputed light heavyweight title in October.
The first bout between the two unbeaten champions was close and technical. It lasted all 12 rounds, with Bivol starting well and boxing smart. But Beterbiev came on strong later in the fight. The judges felt Beterbiev did more damage overall and gave him the win.
Before this fight, Bivol had famously beaten Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez to defend his world title. Beterbiev, on the other hand, had knocked out all of his previous opponents.
Atlas explained his prediction to Sky Sports:
"The reason I picked Bivol to win the first fight it's the same reason I'm gonna pick him now. Everyone thinks that Beterbiev is the guy that has the upper hand in the mental area because he's so mentally strong and mentally focused, and the other guy [Bivol] is more skillful athletically."
Atlas believes Bivol's mental strength will make the difference:
"But Bivol is the guy who's mentally together, who's mentally strong. That guy is mentally strong. That guy is determined, that guy is a monster. I think Bivol is a monster in his mind, too. I think he's mentally strong in his mind, too, and I think that he's learned things from the last fight."
The trainer thinks Bivol gained valuable experience from the first fight:
"He got answers to questions that he didn't have the answers to going in. He wasn't a hundred percent sure that he could handle the boogeyman. Nobody's ever sure. Nobody."
Atlas expects Bivol to use this knowledge to improve his performance:
"Now he knows he can be in there with the boogeyman. I think that internally it will make a difference with him, where he'll be more consistent in certain areas, where he may have moved too much and allowed Beterbiev to be able to push him back and steal ends of rounds by keeping him defensive."
He concluded:
"Now he'll be able to get a good mixture of movement and punching. I will go with Bivol in the rematch."
The winner of this rematch will have to face the victor of the David Benavidez vs David Morrell fight on February 1. This mandatory challenge will add even more excitement to an already highly anticipated rematch.
