Dmitry Bivol completed it within a year

On Saturday, the best professional boxer of 2022, Dmitry Bivol, will fight his only fight in 2023. In Saudi Arabia he will face Briton Lyndon Arthur, a classic dark horse with unknown potential. For Bivol, this fight will be both a defense of the World Boxing Association light heavyweight title and, apparently, something of a warm-up before the match that should be a hit next season – for the title of absolute world champion against compatriot Artur Beterbiev.

The fight will take place in Riyadh as part of a lavish boxing evening that is yet another illustration of the burning desire of Saudi investors to turn their country into a world sports center. His program includes a whole pack of interesting fights. They decided to crown the show with the fights of famous heavyweights – Briton Anthony Joshua and American Deontay Wilder, who will meet with Swede Otto Wallin and New Zealander Joseph Parker, so that later, having dealt with them, they will fight each other for the status of a contender for the championship title.

But, strictly speaking, the fight that will precede the performances of Joshua and Wilder is no worse in terms of the brightness of the “poster”. In the end, he is fighting a boxer who was recognized as the best according to the results of last year by all respected resources that make up this kind of classification, including, for example, The Ring and ESPN, and who has an even more significant event on the agenda for the coming months than the two famous heavyweights.

The title of number one boxer for Dmitry Bivol was earned by two matches with Mexican stars. First, while defending the world light heavyweight title, he shocked everyone by defeating Saul Alvarez, who was considered virtually invulnerable before the clash with the Russian, then with Gilberto Ramirez, who also looked insanely dangerous.

Amazingly, after these feats, Dmitry Bivol, whose demand and recognition skyrocketed, did not enter the ring for more than 13 months – a huge break for a fighter in his prime (he just turned 33 a few days ago).

And it was not associated with injuries or other health problems – everything is fine with him. This was never discussed publicly, through the mouths of major functionaries, but any publication talking about Bivol’s plans necessarily pointed out how difficult it is now, under the conditions of sanctions, even though in professional boxing they have always been much softer than in most forms, for Russian boxers develop a career, find fights suitable for their level and ambitions.

In the case of Dmitry Bivol, it is quite obvious what kind of fight we are talking about. Even before the fight against Lyndon Arthur, he did not even try to hide the fact that he was finally dreaming of crossing paths with his compatriot who also had no misfires in his track record – the phenomenal puncher Artur Beterbiev, who holds the light heavyweight belts of the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Organization and the World Boxing Council. And this is a mutual desire.

But this fight for the title of absolute champion, doomed to turn into a super hit, did not work out, apparently because of politics. And now, judging by how often the match between Bivol and Beterbiev is mentioned as one of the “highlights” of 2024, it can still grow together. Of course, provided that both Russians do not make mistakes in the next, “intermediate” battles. Beterbiev has such a fight – against Callum Smith – in January. Bivol received his, it seems, no longer hoping that he would have a chance to perform before the New Year. At least he honestly said that he learned that the Saudis were organizing a gigantic show at the end of December and he was invited to participate in it as one of the main characters, approximately at the same time when ordinary fans found out about it, that is, at mid November. There was no longer time to organize the usual in-depth preparation for it – with a training camp in the USA. I had to stay in Kyrgyzstan, where Bivol is from, and then fly from the local frosts into the Arabian heat, which, of course, is not very correct. But there was no way out.

A superficial assessment of the situation in his fight, despite these difficulties, is tempting to consider it almost passable for Dmitry Bivol.

He, the standard of tactics and technique, will fight with an opponent who is definitely not in the top echelon of the light heavyweight division – well, at least in the cream of the top echelon. Formally, Lyndon Arthur has a good track record. In it, for every 24 victories there is only one defeat. He suffered it two years ago in a rematch against another well-known Briton, Anthony Yarde, whom he had previously defeated. But, apart from Yard, Arthur had no truly high-ranking opponents, and even in fights with those who were infinitely far from him, there were unpleasant periods. For example, before knocking out Argentinean Brian Suarez in September, Lyndon Arthur had to be knocked down himself. So it’s not surprising that in the most respected classifications of the strongest light heavyweights he is located in modest positions: ESPN is at the tail end of the top ten, BoxRec is completely outside it, in 14th place.

But it’s not that simple. It would be more correct to call Lyndon Arthur not an outsider, but a dark horse. A classic dark horse in the most precise sense of the term, which implies the non-obviousness of the potential. Arthur began boxing, escaping from life full of dangers and depression in a poor Manchester area, late in life, already a teenager.

And it is clear that he has a mediocre school, a “base”. It cannot be otherwise if you have only had about fifty fights as an amateur.

At the same time, already in adulthood, the Briton has accumulated a small, but very good in terms of quality, arsenal of techniques that help him out. This is both a hard jab and a sharp blow to the right in a counterattack. Moreover, the techniques work, essentially, without failure.

And most importantly, Lyndon Arthur gives the impression of a boxer who perfectly understands that it is in class that he is inferior to most of his rivals in subtlety, and does not reflect at all on this matter, counting on the fact that his prickliness and passion will compensate for the difference. Brian Suarez also thought he had the upper hand in his previous fight. Until he received the same blow to the body that finished him off in the tenth round. Such opponents always pose a special threat and love it when they are positioned as passing players.

Alexey Dospehov