Oleksandr Gvozdyk believes that it would be good if Dmitry Bivol did not exchange blows with Artur Beterbiev on Saturday. He suggests that Bivol box and delay the entire fight because Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO) is too powerful and busy with punches to engage in a back-and-forth fight.

Former WBC airy heavyweight champion Gvozdyk was knocked out in the tenth round by Beterbiev five years ago in a unification fight on October 19, 2019 in Philadelphia. Gvozdyk was competitive throughout the seventh round, but from the eighth to the tenth he was tired of Beterbiev’s robust shots.

In hindsight, it’s clear that Gvozdyk made a mistake by mixing up the fight with Beterbiev rather than using his legs, but he’s not that type of fighter. Bivol is much better prepared to move around the ring than Gwozdyk. So it’s possible that he will be able to stay out of Beterbiev’s shot range and try to win by decision.

What Bivol lacks is power. He doesn’t have the power that Gvozdyk had in the Beterbiev fight, and he won’t be able to stop him either. Bivol’s jab is also not as robust as Gvozdyka’s and that may be a problem. He will have to apply his legs more to avoid being hit by Beterbiev and beaten.

“It’s a good option for the fans, but not for Bivol,” said Oleksandr Gvozdyk Round eight of boxing that it is unwise for Dmitry Bivol to exchange words with Artur Beterbiev. “That may be the case, but I still think he is a very disciplined player and takes really good care of himself. Even though he is almost 40 years aged, he is still in great shape, enough to fight at the highest level.

“I would say Adonis Stevenson hit harder with one punch, but he never threw as much as Beterbiev. He basically looks for an opening and then delivers one difficult punch that’s pretty damn massive. Beterbiev, on the other hand, has a very, very massive fist,” Gvozdyk said.

Adonis Stevenson hit Gwozdyk with huge left hands during their fight in December 2018, but they were only single shots and he didn’t react well to getting hit. Beterbiev constantly hit Gvozdyk with punches and did not give up. Beterbiev’s body shots in the ninth and tenth rounds finished Gvozdyk.

“You might be able to withstand one of his punches, but he keeps throwing them and basically keeping you from breathing freely. That’s what makes him risky. He’ll catch you once, throw you again, and again, and that’s it. This is the biggest part of Beterbiev’s style. He never lets you go.

“Jab, footwork, conditioning. You should be on top of all the qualities you can possess. You have to be astute, you have to be careful, you have to have good defense, you have to be focused and you have to be fit. That’s the only way to beat this guy because this guy is really good,” Gvozdyk said of Beterbiev.

Of course, Bivol has been working on his movement and conditioning leading up to this fight. In a video of him practicing a week ago, he threw quick punches and retreated.

It was noted how much energy Bivol expended on the combination of punching and moving back three feet. He looked tired and it was obvious that it would fade away quickly if he kept fighting Beterbiev like this. If this had been a three-round amateur fight, Bivol could have used this strategy and potentially won by decision, but not in a 12-round fight against Beterbiev.

Mid rounds. Bivol will be exhausted and will suffer a penalty and may not see the championship rounds.

For many, Saturday’s undisputed fight for the airy heavyweight championship is the center of the boxing calendar.

Whether the heavyweight carnage of the last 12 months has tickled your taste buds or not, and with the promise of a second Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury in December, many are still rooting for the fight between the champion WBC, WBO and IBF Artur Beterbiev and WBA king Dmitry Bivol as a must-see fight in 2024.

He has almost everything, including – most importantly – the fragile balance of who can win and how, while weighing in on who can have his hand up as the best 175-pounder of this generation.

This is the fight boxing needs. This they represent the best against the best in their weight class, and by a significant margin, and this is something that is too occasional today, despite the increased number of unification fights and cries that the best in each weight class fight each other more regularly than in years previous ones.

There were indeed some good action fights in 2024, but the theory that tons of modern money unlocked the fights we all wanted is wrong because we don’t think we’re any closer to Shakur Stevenson fighting “Tank” Davis and landing David Benavidez “Canelo” Alvarez or Terence Crawford fighting “Boots” Ennis.

These types of statements are always divisive; some fall into the same level of complaining as me, and others are grateful for what we had, not what we don’t have.

But here, in the case of Beterbiev-Bivol, (for a change) we almost all unanimously agree. It’s a close fight that’s one of the best, if not the best, to be had in the sport – and has been for some time.

“People want things to be uncomplicated,” Bivol told me a few weeks ago.

“People want to understand who the best airy heavyweight fighter is. And one of the guys has one belt; one of the guys has three belts. They have to see this. We want to see this fight to understand who is the best.”

Almost everything about competitions, when you pair up competitors and look at their records, style and attributes, makes them attractive.

Both were top amateurs and parlayed their pedigree into worldwide accolades as professionals and record-breaking players. Beterbiev caused more excitement and carnage, and his 20-0 (20 KO) record is more impressive than Bivol’s 23-0 (12 KO).

As Beterbiev’s statistics show, he is an absolute brute. Those who are hit by him will stay hit. His most significant moment of destruction ranks alongside the great and good in history at 175 years ancient, while Bivol performs operations using a different methodology, but no less precise.

It’s too basic to condemn Beterbiev for blunt force trauma. This harms his distance, timing, dominance and patience. He didn’t defeat the people he had defeated so far by simply marching forward and not stopping until they gave way.

Working at the level he works at and the way he does it means he must act in a harmful way. That means he was dropped and caught. There is no shame in it. Jeff Page knocked him down with a right hand that got him back up. Callum Johnson hit him with a brief left hook that made him feel dizzy. Others have had success as well, but inevitability creeps in and the walls soon begin to close in.

Will 33-year-old Bivol keep Beterbiev away from him and will the WBA champion stay out of the danger zone for 12 rounds? These are some of the many questions that will be answered in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

Historically, this fight really matters. This isn’t hyperbole or nonsense. This is not a position that includes a promise of a reward from the Saudi state fund. This competition will produce the true offspring of Tommy Loughran, Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles, Bob Foster, Michael Spinks and Roy Jones.

From a commercial perspective, how huge a fight between two Russians in Saudi Arabia is, regardless of the caliber of the boxers, the intricacies and proposed violence of the fight itself, is a completely different matter.

Many felt that Crawford’s Las Vegas showcase with Errol Spence at T-Mobile in Las Vegas in 2023 had not expanded beyond the boxing bubble, and this one certainly doesn’t get any bigger. This is a must-see fight for hardcore fans and a top-notch commercial fight. Time will tell if it is by any means a commercial juggernaut.

Some felt Spence entered the Crawford fight as damaged goods – maybe even Spence would agree – and while some say Beterbiev has shown no signs of slowing down in the ring, and looked as destructive as ever in his previous fight, an emphatic victory over Callum Smith in Montreal, there are still questions about whether his knee had time to heal properly ( that fight was postponed to June 1 due to a torn meniscus), whether inactivity would ultimately play a role in his downfall, or whether the almost 40-year-old Father Time knocked on the door where Beterbiev stands with his hand outstretched, ready to open.

As with Spence, this will likely only matter if Bivol – already the vanquisher of the aforementioned Canelo – wins decisively and decisively.

According to airy heavyweight contender Jesse Hart, a clear winner would be a surprise. Instead, what is expected and desired is a fight that will demand a lot from both.

“I think it will be a war in itself,” he told me earlier this year. “And I believe that in this fight you will get what’s left of these two fighters, provided that they are not in top shape after this fight.

I think it will take a lot from both of them after this fight. Because they both fight so tough and they both come from Russia, they both have that pedigree in them. So it’s not just about the world title, but who is the best in our country? This is Russia versus Russia; it’s also personal. They want to be respected as the best. In Russia people say Bivol is the best; people say Beterbiev is the best. Now they meet and find out who is really the best here [at 175 lbs]and it’s because of these two guys. So I believe it will require a lot from both of them.

Will any of the players be the same later?

“No, absolutely not. That’s why I say David Benavidez has moved up [in weight] in due course. He knows what he’s doing – it’s not without reason that he decided to fight in the airy heavyweight division [Oleksandr] Gwozdyk; what’s left of the two of them are beating each other up because that’s what it’s going to be like.

I think this fight will demand a lot from both fighters, regardless of who wins. I believe the fans will get their money’s worth, but I think it will take a lot of effort from both guys because they are both resilient.

When entering a fight, while it’s worth considering every possible alternative, it’s also worth appreciating what we finally have. Beterbiev-Bivol is a fight we have been waiting for for a long time. Now it’s their job to show us why and satisfy our cravings as fight fans who are too often denied that magical feeling.

Tyson Fury has hinted on social media that he plans to add weight ahead of his rematch with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. In Fury’s last fight with Usyk, which he lost by a 12-round split decision on May 18, he weighed in at 262 pounds.

The 36-year-old Fury published several photos on social media. One was a 262-pound version of himself against Usyk, and the other was a 277-pound version of his trilogy against Deontay Wilder on October 9, 2021. Fury spoke favorably. as he looked at 277, which suggests he is looking to add some weight to his frame.

Unfortunately, this may not aid Fury as he is now 36 years elderly and not the 33-year-old who fought Wilder in 2021. Additionally, Fury is not fighting the untechnical Wilder, who on all three occasions looked outclassed in terms of the skill of their fights.

The real problem is that Fury has gotten older and is not the same fighter he was three or four years ago when he fought Wilder. It’s physically impossible for Fury to transform into a 277-pound behometh to beat the hopelessly lost Deontay because he’s aged too much. However, even this version of Fury would have problems against Usyk because he would be too snail-paced and would become the target of a fierce counter-attack.

Passive fighting saved Fury from being knocked out by Usyk last May. That and the referee who gave Fury an eight-count instead of waving the fight away in the ninth round when he was badly injured by Usyk.

Fury is fighting Usyk (22-0, 14 KO) and is a much more talented fighter than him. What’s more, Usyk is lighter on his feet, faster and more agile. So even if Fury reaches 270, it won’t aid him against Usyk. On the contrary, it will snail-paced Fury down, making him an even bigger target for Usyk’s punches than he was in the last fight.

“I was in the shape of my life, but this is not the Gypsy King,” Tyson Fury said on social media about his condition before the fight with Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year, on May 18.

“That’s him, the 19th fighter at 11 pounds,” Fury said of the 277 pounds he weighed for his third fight with Deontay Wilder.

It would be better for Fury to go lighter rather than heavier for his rematch with Usyk, as he will need every bit of speed he can get to prevent a knockout.