By Brian Webber: Dmitry Bivol says he’s more interested in a undisputed light heavyweight championship fight against IBF, WBC& WBO 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev next rather than a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, should he successfully defend his WBA belt against mandatory Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez on November 5th.
Bivol (21-0, 10 KOs) feels that a rematch with Canelo is taking his career in reverse, and he prefers to move forward with new fights against Beterbiev and others. However, Bivol is interested in fighting Canelo again, but not in his next fight.
It might make Canelo happy if Bivol opts not to fight him next because that likely spares him another one-sided defeat like the one he suffered against him last May.
At least if Bivol chooses not to fight Canelo in May, it saves the Mexican star from a loss, and he can focus on fighting the likes of David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, and Caleb Plant.
Bivol will be battling Zurdo Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) on November 5th on DAZN at the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi.
“Of course, I feel great in my training camp; everything is ok. We have everything for a great training camp,” said Dmitry Bivol to Fighthype about his upcoming title defense against Gilberto Ramirez on November 5th.
“I feel confident, and I have enough sparring partners, everything. I’m in Abu Dhabi [for camp]. It’s good to be in the mountains. It’s good for conditioning.
“Of course, I do everything to be in great shape and good feelings. Sometimes you don’t know how it will be. Everything is okay in training camp, and on the day of the fight something is wrong, but we try to do everything to be perfect,” said Bivol when asked if there could be a possibility of him not performing at as high a standard as he did against Canelo Alvarez.
“I believe I can beat him. I have good skills, and I’ll try to do everything to beat him. I felt I was on that level, which I was against Canelo. Now people know that my level is good. Before, they didn’t think I was good.
“I’ll try to be better every time, of course. If you’re worse than last time, something is wrong. You have to tweak something. I’ll try to be better, of course, in this fight against Zurdo, too.
“I just respect him as a fighter and nothing more,” Bivol said about Gilberto Ramirez. “I have respect for him because he was a champion at 168. It’s a big deal. He has 44 fights and 0 losses. It’s a big deal, too.
“This is what motivates me to beat him. I want to be the first. I didn’t see this fight,” said Bivol when asked if he felt that Canelo had shown improvement since their fight when he battled Gennadiy Golovkin last September.
“It’s not that I don’t want to see. It’s because that fight was when I was in my camp when I was preparing for my fight against Zurdo. I have to be focused on Zurdo. If I see a fight in my weight class, it’s not a good feelings for me because I waste my concentration and everything.
“But with Canelo-Golovkin, Canelo had a little bit more chance because he’s younger, and Golovkin is getting older year by year.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it,” said Bivol when asked if he believes Canelo will give him a rematch next year in May. “I want to fight November 5th. I want to win this fight and still move forward. Not come back and fight the guys that I beat. I want to move forward for my goal of another belt,” said Bivol.
“The first thing I would insist upon is having neutral judges,” said Bivol’s manager Vadim Kornilov about a rematch with Canelo. “That was the main thing that worried me in the first fight.
“Dmitry doesn’t think about that. He doesn’t want to worry about the judges. That’s not his job, but in the negotiations, that was one of the main points that we were talking about because we never took that fight because of the money.
“We took that fight because he wanted to get more respect and attention from the boxing world. Fighting Canelo, who was #1 or one of the top guys, gets you that attention.
“But one of the main things for us was to get the decision we deserved. Obviously, if we fight again, that’ll be one of the main points. How do we make sure that if we win the fight, we get the decision we deserve?
“That’ll be the first. After that, it’ll be the other points. It’ll be being the A-side and getting the purse that’s deserved. Those things are important, but they’re not the main thing.
“I think Dmitry would agree, but he doesn’t talk about those things. It’s not his responsibility. Not only the way Dmitry performed. It shouldn’t be that way ever.
“It’s disrespectful. I’ve been in boxing for 15 years. Dmitry has been in boxing his entire life. Kids that put their life in the sport that dedicate their life. They dedicate most of the days of their life to training.
“I’ve been in training camps, and I’ve seen it all. Winning a fight for a world title that they’ve worked for all their life and then having the judges give the decision to the other guy. I think that’s the worst thing that could happen.
“It’s worse than not getting paid for the fight. The promoter can go bankrupt and not pay for the fight. That’s not a big deal, but the judges stealing a decision is disrespectful. I’ve always been somebody that spot that.
“I’ve always thought that’s something that should change. With some of our guys like Dmitry becoming world champion and becoming a recognized name, I hope we figure out a way. Not us. Everybody in the sport.
“Hopefully, we figure out how to make this a fair game for everybody. No matter where you’re from, where you are and where you’re fighting,” said Kornilov.
“Of course, for my soul, for my pride, and for my history, I want to have my belts. I want to take this chance to fight for many belts,” said Bivol when asked if he prefers a fight against IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev for his next match-up over a rematch with Canelo. “It’s great.
“Yes, yes, exactly,” said Bivol when asked if it would be a stamp of how great he is if he could win more belts at 175. “He’s huge, so huge,” said Bivol about his recent meeting with retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal.
“I’m really glad to see a man like Shaq because when I was young, I only saw him on TV and he was really famous.
“Still work hard to follow the plan of my coach and so everything that he said. It will make me more confident. When I do all the work that he tells me, it makes me more confident.
“If I don’t do something, some small enemy in my head makes me a little less confident. But I have to work what my coach said,” said Bivol.
