Sergio Mora believes that Dmitry Bivol ‘has everything you need’ to see off Artur Beterbiev ahead of the pair’s mooted undisputed light heavyweight world championship clash later this year.
The two undefeated fighters are believed to be preparing for an undisputed title clash in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2024 and former WBC light middleweight champion Mora sees his as a battle between a ‘boxer and a puncher’.
“Anytime you have a pure puncher against a pure boxer I’m always going to favour or lean towards the pure, intelligent boxers,” Mora told The DAZN Boxing Show. “Bivol has everything you need to extinguish that punching power of Beterbiev. He has the footwork, he has the jab, he moves laterally left to right, he stabs you to the body. And the main thing is he can follow a strategy all the way to the end, which is what you need against power punches that are going to keep coming at you, touching you anywhere.
"That’s what Beterbiev does. He’s disciplined he doesn’t always headhunt and miss. He’s comfortable punching at the shoulders, punching at the chest, punching at your forearm. That’s why he’s so destructive because he has the gameplan and the discipline all the way out and to wait it out."
Mora added that Bivol, who saw off Lyndon Arthur in Riyad in December, will need to be ‘perfect’ for the whole fight against Beterbiev.
“He’s going to have to be perfect for 12 rounds,” Mora continued. “You know Bivol’s not going to stop Artur Beterbiev. Bivol hasn’t knocked out anyone in a few years and in several fights. So it’s going to go to the decision and can he be perfect for 12 rounds? Beterbiev doesn’t need to hit you solid. He can punch you with half a shot, a glancing punch and it can make your knees buckle. And if those knees buckle against a beast like Beterbiew you’re not going to make it to the end of the round, let alone 12 rounds.
“It’s a perfect style match-up between a boxer and a puncher. If you’re asking me I’m always going to go and lean towards the boxer because he has just a little more tools. A boxer can outfight a puncher but a puncher cannot outbox a boxer and that’s the only reason I always lean towards an intelligent boxer."
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