Russian Mafia in the US Wanted a Slice of the Beterbiev-Bivol Pie

[SouthpawRight]

1. russian mafia in america offered to sponsor bivol and beterbiev for their fight. They basically approached them when they landed in america and tried to offer "help" in exchange of some of the money from the contract.
2. being asked about if they are ready to fight in mid and close distance because that's where certainly artur is gonna push the fight to. He said : They are readybut that they are not gonna let beterbiev find that distance.
3. when asked about how are they gonna deal with arthur's body shots he just said: "step back. If you stay in front of him he's gonna land, if you step back he's gonna miss"
4. as far as beterbiev goes he adresses his power and says he's not fazed by it and that he has already been beaten on multiple occasions by different types of fighters. He also said that bivol has sparred in preparation for his fights with people who at the moment when they were in the gym with him it looked like they were 4 or 5 categories above his so he is used to stronger opponents.
5. apparently nikolai issaev, one of the greatest russian trainers and amateur boxers, whose style was very similar to bivol's, ditched him and told him " you are a winner, but i only work with champions."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8ustc2pa-a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iewbhjdlo4

[SouthpawRight]

In other interview His trainer Gennady Mashianov said that Bivol rehydrates only to 183 to 185lbs, that's very impressive considering that many 175lbs rehydrates 15 20 25 lbs