While for most of us the idea of spending time in the ring with both Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol would be considered anything but a privilege, the same cannot be said for a professional boxer. After all, at light heavyweight, the two Russians represent not only the very best the sport has to offer but also, combined, give you just about everything you could want from a modern-day boxer. 

In Beterbiev, you have the incessant pressure and the debilitating power, while Bivol, though not as heavy-handed, does with his hands, and indeed feet, what most boxers can only dream of doing from one round to the next. 

For opponents, this makes the pair of them hard men to beat. Yet, equally, it makes them great fighters from whom to learn. 

Ask Craig Richards, the London light heavyweight who has shared a ring with both. He boxed Bivol in 2021, losing a relatively close decision after 12 rounds, and more recently spent 23 days in camp with Beterbiev ahead of Beterbiev’s rematch with Bivol this Saturday. He has, in other words, been closer to both men than perhaps any other boxer. He knows what it is like to be in the ring with them. He knows, more importantly, how it feels. 

“We did three weeks of sparring and sparred three times a week,” Richards told BoxingScene of his time with Beterbiev. “We did loads of good rounds together and I took a lot of confidence from it.

“I had a lot of theories about how I would box him, hypothetically, when I was watching him coming through years ago. I was watching all these other fighters go in there with what I thought was the wrong game plan and I was coming up with all these ideas of my own. 

“But that’s only good in theory. It’s like when you’re watching a football match at home and you think you could do better than the players on the pitch and would magically become Cristiano Ronaldo if given the opportunity. You never know until you are actually in that position. 

“For me, all the theories were just theories until I tested them out. But when I got in there with him and tested them out, I was doing a lot of the stuff I anticipated doing and it was working. That gave me a lot of confidence. He’s a good fighter, very strong, but the thing that makes him him is this: Although Bivol is very skillful, and fast, and has a lot of ability, Beterbiev is consistent. He’ll do what he’s doing from round one to 12. If you are someone who gets tired, or loses your shape or concentration, he will punish you.”

Richards, 18-4-1 (11 KOs), continued: “You’ve got to be switched on, but don’t be overly switched on. Don’t panic. Don’t start burning up nervous energy. I saw someone sparring him and they were so tense that by the end of round one, they were blowing out their arsehole. They were thinking, ‘What if Beterbiev hits me?’ That burned up a load of nervous energy. They thought they were in there with a monster and they were fleeing, jumping, and ear-muffing their gloves to their ears. I was like, ‘Come on now, just relax. You’re basically beating yourself right now.’ Beterbiev was throwing feints and throwaway jabs and they were falling for everything because they were so tense. 

“With the experience I’ve got, I never got suckered into that or taken down that path. I knew what I needed to do each time. I knew I needed to be defensively switched on and, offensively, not get too greedy when I let my hands go.”

Despite his experience with both men, Richards is no closer to understanding which of the two, Beterbiev or Bivol, is the better light heavyweight in 2025. Moreover, no amount of time spent in their company has given him any clearer indication of what will happen when the two of them meet again in Riyadh this weekend. 

“Honestly, it’s so difficult to pick a winner,” Richards said. “The first one was so close. I had Bivol edging it, but I think they will have both gone away and made the necessary adjustments. They’re not going to want to come in as the same guy. They will both think they saw flaws in the other. It’s all about which of them is then able to go away and get it right. Who can adjust to someone’s adjustments and new game plan? It’s very interesting. 

“I feel like, although Beterbiev got it, we should just call the first fight a draw, and now this rematch is to settle the score basically. A lot of people thought Bivol won; a lot of people thought Beterbiev won. Beterbiev got the nod, but I don’t think that decision clarified anything. We still don’t know which of them is the best fighter. We need a proper dominant performance from one of them in order for us to know. 

“There are three possibilities in my mind: Bivol dominates, Beterbiev dominates, or the fight is as hard to call as the first one. I wouldn’t be surprised by any of them.”

There is a sense that almost for their own sakes, and certainly ours, the best-case scenario on Saturday is for one of Beterbiev or Bivol to win the fight conclusively and put the matter to bed once and for all. Otherwise, we may just see a repeat of what we witnessed in October and be left no closer to answers than we were following the 12 scintillating rounds the two produced four months ago. Back then it seemed, early on, that Bivol was the superior boxer and was racking up a lead, only for this view to change somewhat when Beterbiev came on strong late, particularly in the championship rounds.

“The one thing I will say about Bivol is that the reason he got dominated in the last couple of rounds is because he loses all his power from the ninth,” said Richards. “Even when I fought him, I felt nothing in his shots from round 10 and that’s why I pressed so hard in 10, 11 and 12. I knew he was just trying to ride it out. 

“But Beterbiev is the wrong guy to have in front of you when you’re trying to do that. I think Bivol hit that same wall with Beterbiev and he registered that. When you’re boxing at the highest level, these are the sorts of things you’re looking at and looking out for. Beterbiev will have felt it the way I felt it, and that’s why he went after him in the last two rounds. He would have thought, ‘Yeah, I’m going for it. You’ve got nothing to keep me off of you.’ Bivol then just has to move his feet and try to see it out. I thought he was so far up at that stage it didn’t matter. I thought he just had to survive those last two rounds to get the win. 

“Of course he has power, Beterbiev, but his consistency is his main asset. Bivol’s reflexes and speed are his things, whereas Beterbiev’s are his power and consistency. That’s why Bivol has to be on it for 12 rounds this fight. I’ve seen him do it against guys like Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jnr, and even Canelo [Alvarez], and he needs to be that same guy with Beterbiev on Saturday.”