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Originally posted by _Rexy_
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Yes he has against the much more powerful Callum Johnson in sparring. Bivol has SMW power at best. -
Don’t mind seeing Bivol in the 168 or 175
Great fighter with great vision
Just wish he would be a bit more aggressive
Very sneaky fighter with feints and incredible footworkComment
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Oh, ****! Sparring!! Why didn't you say so! That's the exact same thing!!Originally posted by KrusherStan View Post
And Bivol is the only fighter to KO Sullivan Barrera. Does he have a middleweight chin?Comment
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Bivol is as good as he is unexciting.Comment
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Lmao Barrera was stopped by exhaustion rather than being hurt, it ain't hard to see. And you forget it was in the last round lolOriginally posted by _Rexy_ View PostComment
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Oh right, Knockouts don't count if they come in the 12th round.Originally posted by KrusherStan View Post
And exhaustion was why he was bleeding from the mouth, eyes glassed over, stumbling into the ref as he struggled to get up at 9.Comment
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Your right about thatOriginally posted by Lemonhead_Jeff View Post
He seems to stop throwing anytime he’s got the upper hand
His post fight interview he clearly stated experience
I just wanna see him throw his hands a little more
Imo he needs motivation from his opponent or he fights to his opponents level
Can only improve with better oppositionComment
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And stop pulling out to his right with his left hand down by his body at the bell getting caught by the same damn looping overhand right. Barrera drilled him right after the bell, so did Smith, and it looked like 5 years went off Bivol's life with that shot if you looked at his facial expression. Not good. But besides those two flaws... and flaws are to be expected... the only boxers the last decade to come forward, still slip or block 90% of the punches, and land tons of clean damaging shots, like Bivol does or better, are Lomachenko, and... yup, just Lomachenko. Usyk gets hit more than Bivol (more durable though, and goes to the body, so overall might be better than Bivol, but he doesn't do that as well as Bivol), Crawford gets hit more, doesn't come forward as much, doesn't throw as many punches, doesn't hit his opponent as much. Chocolatito got hit way more, more of a pressure fighter.Originally posted by BigZ44 View Post
The only other one who did as good actually was prime GGG, but I didn't mention him on purpose because even though he did it as well, at least almost as well (he too got hit more, but still little enough that he did it about as well overall), because even though in compubox and effectiveness, he did it as well, he was not as fast or dynamic as Bivol. I'll say it like this. Even though Bivol has the Russian style compared to the Papachenko Ukrainian style that Loma and Usyk have, if you ignore the one big difference and the few subtle differences, which is how a know-nothing boxing fan like me would characterize it, they're still in the same ballpark, whereas GGG, even though he also uses a variation of the Russian style...
Actually, let me rephrase it a third time. Pre-Abel GGG maybe is in the same ballpark as Bivol, at least as similar to Bivol as Bivol is to Loma and Usyk, if not more, although the gap between GGG and Usyk and Loma in terms of style is even greater which is why I wanted to separate it. But Abel GGG just doesn't feel quite like a Loma, Bivol, or Usyk to me. I dont want to say its all about hand speed, since prime GGG was a lot faster than most people remember, and sometimes I even forget too... but maybe it's that, maybe it's just that GGG is so much stronger than them for his weight class, at least in his prime not now I mean, that he was just walking forward more without the need for as much in and out and left and right because he had the strength to just block the incoming punches just his arms were made of metal rather than needing to slip and go in and out.
I mean, Bivol's guard is a bit weak, in my opinion. Very weak. But again, so was Loma's vs Salido. When you're outweighed in the ring, that's what happens. Let's see how it looks at 168. But compared to GGG, Bivol's guard is weak as *****. You can push it around, create openings very easily. GGG's was like a rock. Punches bounced off his guard like his guard was the one punching his opponent's fists and not their fists punching his guard, even though his guard wasn't moving obviously their fists were.
So GGG would come in, strong guard, cutting the ring, probing, feinting, subtle head movement to walk you into leads or counters, and he would jab you to do. GGG had great legs and very good footwork but he didn't have or at least didn't need to use too much of that side to side, forward and back, ballerina type of footwork that Bivol, Kovalev, Loma, and Usyk do. The reason I didnt mention Kovalev is he also has way leakier defense than those guys, although the Kovalev we saw vs Alvarez, if he can keep boxing like that, he will belong in that conversation.
But yeah, basically, Bivol is one of the very best true boxers, guys who dont have to run to not get hit but rather they can go into the swimming pool without getting wet. Guys who dominate and are in control almost every second of every round. Bivol is right below Lomachenko to me. I know some will get mad about me mentioning another foreign boxer as a top 5 P4P guy, but that 1 minute per fight aside where he makes his rookie mistakes and eats big shots, he looks absolutely phenomenal in every fight. He is a better boxer than Mikey Garcia and Errol Spence and other guys they put on the P4P list. Obviously, they have more power, P4P, maybe a lot more (let's see Bivol at 168 before we say for sure), but overall he is better and if they were all the same size, I think Bivol would be the favorite and those guys would be considered to have good punchers chances but still "only" a puncher's chance. Might even be a 35% puncher's chance, but that's still 2 to 1 odds for Bivol. He's very very good. We just have to see how durable he is. Every time Joe Smith Jr landed the right hand on Bivol, three times, Bivol's legs buckled to varying degrees all three times.
Then again, when Fonfara got hit with just one of those punches, he basically got KO'd right away. But Fonfara never had the best chin so is that really enough for Bivol that his chin is better than Fonfara's? I'll tell you one thing, 51 year old Bernard Hopkins took Joe Smith Jr's punches a lot better than Bivol. Yes, really. He got knocked out the ring because Smith somehow set him up for like a perfect 3 punch combo and every single one landed, but in terms of single punches, BHop took them better.
Of course, 51 year old BHop also took Kovalev's punches better than many top 10 prime light heavyweights have. So, is it really a knock on Bivol that BHop, even old BHop, took the punches better, considering even at 51, BHop had an elite chin?
Plus, Smith Jr looked like he rehydrated bigger since then, so we don't know if that was the issue as well. Plus Smith Jr landed most of those big shots right on Bivol's ear. Maybe Bivol's chin would have taken them better though I doubt it lol.
In any case, Smith Jr is a huge puncher, but it's still alarming to see someone as skilled as Bivol, and in as good of shape, hurt by anyone in his division. But maybe that is an unfair standard. He's just so good that it IS sort of a red flag that he keeps looking vulnerable, even for just moments, in his fights vs Valera, Smith Jr, and Pascal. Those are top 10 guys though, Smith Jr is a big puncher, Pascal counters with explosive haymakers, and both Smith Jr and Valera had giant reach advantages over Bivol which complicated things significantly.
So who knows. But so far, so good. His boxing skills are top 3 or 4 in the sport. His power is not elite but better than the other top 3 or 4 boxers in the sport. It's hard to have everything 10 out of 10 lol. His durability and concentration, we'll just have to see when he faces other ELITE prime guys.Comment
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