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WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 20-0 (11) is tipping WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterviev 17-0 (17) to defeat WBO boss Joe Smith Jr 28-3 (22) when they meet at Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 18.
The 31-year-old Russian scored a wide points win over Smith three years ago and is keen to face the winner of the bout to unify all four major world championship belts.
“First of all, it’s an interesting fight. [Beterbiev] has more chance [to win],” Bivol told The DAZN Boxing Show. “He has more power and boxing skills, [he’s] a little better than Smith. He has much more fights in the amateurs which makes you more skilled, to give you more experience.
“Joe Smith still how the power and a big heart. It’s an interesting fight. Of course I want to fight the winner of this fight.”
Bivol shocked many last weekend when he defeated undisputed super middleweight champion and Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-2-2 (39) by unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Alvarez was largely unable to penetrate Bivol’s guard and resorted to throwing his right hand at his opponent’s arm in an attempt to disrupt his potent jab.
“It’s a good trick, yeah, to hit your arm, but you cannot knock your arm out,” Bivol told iFL TV. “It doesn’t give you [points]. It hurts, but not too much. I can throw my jab today. Of course it’s a little bit hard, but I can throw my jab.
“I try to be not predictable. I try to [make him] not read me. He comes [to] me at the ropes, I wouldn’t go to him. I wouldn’t be predictable.
“Sometimes when he beat me, I try to give him punch back because he didn’t expect that. It helps to not be [readable].”
Bivol added he was worried when the fight went to the cards even though he believed he clearly won.
“When I hear that 115-113, for one second I thought, ‘Oh, maybe, it’s not my day today,’ Bivol said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “But when I heard ‘Still’, yeah, they made the right decision.”
Asked how many rounds he thought Alvarez won, Bivol said: “Maybe maximum four, I think.”
Alvarez has indicated he will enact the immediate rematch clause in his contract. Bivol says he is more than happy to accommodate him – with conditions.
“Of course, [I want] more money,” Bivol said. “I wanna be the first on the posters. Something like that.
“If he wants rematch, I should give him a rematch. And I give him [a rematch], of course. If he takes the option. If he not take [the rematch], no problem, I will go my [own] way, to my goal.
“I’m not sure if it will be easier. It just will be different. It’s too hard. Maybe he will be more motivated, maybe.”
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