00:00One of the big fights of the year happens this weekend in Saudi Arabia as
00:16Artur Beterbiev, he of the WBC, IBF and WBO light heavyweight championships
00:23taking on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in a long-awaited fight to
00:30unify and make the light heavyweight champion undisputed. So let's break it
00:37down. This is going to be an excellent fight. Neither fighter has lost in their
00:43career. There is very little separating them and I think when you see the
00:48mauling power style that is Beterbiev and the technical prowess of Bivol it is
00:56very tempting to just say oh this is just puncher versus fighter puncher
01:00versus boxer let's see how this kind of plays out and on the surface it kind of
01:05is that but I do think that Bivol has maybe a little bit more power than he
01:09gets credit for and I do think that Beterbiev has significantly more
01:13technique than he gets credit for and that's where this fight gets very
01:16interesting to me is that like on the one hand you have Beterbiev who is just
01:24this guy with dynamite in his hands and this unbelievable knockout artist and on
01:30the other hand you have the technical proficiency of Bivol who was able to
01:34outpoint Canelo Alvarez on way on route to the biggest fight and win of his
01:40career but at the same time you have Bivol who like I said has like he
01:46doesn't have a string of knockouts he only has a few but he does have power in
01:49his hands that just comes from being that size and on the other hand you have
01:54Beterbiev who is a little bit more technical and other than people give him
01:58credit for and can kind of fight that style as well and I think it is going to
02:02be the thing that I think plays out in this fight is who ends up having their
02:08plan B be the best one and so that is why I keep going back and forth on this
02:13one because I think the plan B for Beterbiev is a little bit better than
02:17the plan B for Bivol I do think that if it just comes down to their like plan A's
02:22I guess I do think that Bivol can outclass, outclass sounds so dismissive
02:29but can just be a step ahead technically of Beterbiev and avoid all of those
02:34things at the same time I do think that if it does turn into a technical fight
02:39that Beterbiev can actually kind of hold his own a little bit but then if we get
02:43into the knockout brawling stage of this Beterbiev can handle that aspect of it a
02:48whole lot better than Bivol can obviously that gets into the strength
02:52and so I think if it gets more technical Beterbiev has a better handle on that
02:57than if it turns into a brawl for Bivol if that makes sense I don't know if I
03:00explain that very well but that's kind of where a lot of my thought process has
03:03been this week and the other thing that has always concerned me about fights
03:06like this is yes Bivol is technically superior I think the issue a that
03:12doesn't just cancel out all the technique that Beterbiev has but also if
03:16you are going to fight that way you have to be perfect for 12 rounds and that is
03:20so hard to do when you have the pressure and the power of Beterbiev coming at you
03:26so it is a it is a so so much an intriguing fight at the end of the day I
03:32have come down on the side of technique I just think that Bivol is just that
03:38step ahead more when it comes to the technical acumen of the sport and I
03:42think that is going to win out this is not going to I think like minus 140 is
03:48the number for Beterbiev or for Bivol sorry I think this is that close of a
03:52fight I think that this is going to be right down to the wire but I think when
03:56it comes down to being able to win rounds and doing those sorts of things I
04:00think Bivol is going to be the one to get this done so I think Bivol gets the
04:04win and I do think he wins by decision yeah Deeds the winner faces Beterbiev
04:10yeah that's the way Deeds in the chat for those who are watching or listening
04:15watching later or listening yeah Beterbiev might be might need a couple
04:20more fights to get into contention for these guys but he's had quite the run
04:26like not obviously not fighting recently but just like the turnaround with his
04:31health and all that stuff a DDP yoga kind of inspirational story and whatnot
04:37but yeah no I think this fight coming up this weekend is going to be just so
04:42incredibly fun and I like I am hammering it down I have to I'm making the pick
04:48now I'm making it official I refuse to let myself waffle back and forth at any
04:52other point but this is going to be a very intriguing bout coming up this
04:57weekend
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