Dmitry Bivol added Mexican – Sport – Kommersant

One of the most famous Russian boxers Dmitry Bivol has achieved another very bright success. He defended his World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title (up to 79.4 kg), defeating Mexican Gilberto Ramirez, who seemed to be an extremely dangerous opponent, with an overwhelming advantage on points in Abu Dhabi.

The first rounds of this fight could inspire those who saw in the tall, long-armed, having a “clean” track record of 44 victories, Gilberto Ramirez an even more serious threat to Dmitry Bivol than another Mexican – the great Saul Alvarez, with whom the Russian, having amazed the whole world, undressed in May. Bivol famously held the opening round, immediately showed that the subtlety, intelligence, speed over the past six months after the fight with Alvarez had gone nowhere, of course, and before the break he hit the challenger quite hard in the head. But then, for some time, Ramirez behaved quite decently, as if no worse than a great compatriot: he tried to maintain a favorable distance for himself, that is, not to get too close to his opponent unnecessarily, he tried at least sometimes to respond to Bivol’s attacks.

But the feeling that it would be incredibly difficult for Dmitry Bivol to defend the champion title turned out to be an illusion.

In the fourth round, the Russian for the first time demonstrated his trump card – the ability to “impose” attacks: the opponent thinks that he has already fought back, that the worst is over, but the second wave immediately follows the first wave. And there is no way to hide from her. Gong found Ramirez in an extremely uncomfortable position.

And then there were rounds similar to each other – in the sense that they perfectly illustrated the colossal difference in the understanding of boxing, in the “school”, in terms of talent between the champion and the challenger. Dmitry Bivol felt everything and saw everything. It exploded precisely at those moments when the explosion was logical, when it could not fail to bring results. And Gilberto Ramirez tried to anticipate these attacks, to come up with something to avoid hits, but he could not. And nothing prevented Bivol – neither the high growth of a left-handed opponent, nor his stubbornness. The Russian again, as in May, dominated his opponent, not giving the slightest reason to hope for something for those who were worried about the opponent.

Some glimmers of hope among these people could only appear at the end of the battle. In the ninth round, Gilberto Ramirez, having suddenly decided to take a risk, throw off his visor, delivered several good blows, but immediately received twice as much in return. But he finally managed to take the next round. And fans of the Mexican probably at that moment remembered that another signature quality of the Mexican is his vitality. Ramirez repeatedly won fights that were bad for him, adding at the finish line, waiting for the enemy to be covered with fatigue.

However, Dmitry Bivol that evening and with “physics” everything was in perfect order. Success in the tenth round was the last for Gilberto Ramirez. The remaining two three-minutes Bivol worked perfectly, and Ramirez met the final gong, suffering severely under fire from the champion. The win with a devastating score – 117:111, 117:111 and 118:110 – was given by all three referees.

Within the framework of the same tournament, another Russian boxer won the championship title. Shavkat Rakhimov got the vacant belt of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) in the category up to 59 kg, having a difficult fight with Briton Zelfa Barrett. Rakhimov survived a knockdown in the third round, but forced the opponent’s seconds to surrender in the ninth.

Alexey Dospekhov