Dmitrii Bivol vs Lyndon Arther
Dmitrii Bivol(21-0, 11KOs) is an absolute force at light heavyweight. He’s best known for his outstanding 2022, when he won fighter of the year. In May, Bivol shocked all who weren’t familiar with him by dismantling pound-for-pound great Canelo Alvarez, though the judges saw it closer, putting an abrupt halt in Alvarez’s brave light heavyweight run. Followed by a near shut-out against a very highly skilled, highly regarded, and huge for the weight, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, which also ended Zurdo’s light heavyweight run, sending him upwards to the cruiserweight division for good. Even before 2022, he had already handily beaten some very good fighters like Joe Smith jr, Isaac Chilemba, Sullivan Barrera, and Jean Pascal.
Bivol is one of the most well rounded and highly skilled boxers in the sport today. His ring IQ and footwork are absolutely top-tier. His range finding and punch selection is something to behold. And his speed and power are nothing to sniff at either. It should be mentioned, however, that though he has knocked out a little over half of his opponents, he does seem to be satisfied with cruising to a decision as opposed to getting his guy out of there.
Lyndon Arther(23-1, 16KOs) has made a name for himself on the domestic level in the UK. The coming match in Riyadh will not only be his first shot at a world title, but it will actually be the first time he’s fought outside of his home country in his entire career. That’s not to say he isn’t a world-class boxer. He is one of only three people to defeat Anthony Yarde, the other two being Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev, putting him in very good company. He beat Yarde by a split decision in 2020, but took his lone loss in the rematch by fourth round knockout in 2021.
In his most recent outing against Braian Suarez, Arther went down from a heavy right hand at the end of the 4th round, but was up before the ref counted to seven. He was rocked a few more times throughout the fight. In the 10th round, he was beaten up and behind on the scorecards, but showing his immense will and character, bit down on his mouth guard and landed a great body shot on Suarez. Suarez went down with a late reaction and could not recover, making Arther the victor, and the new IBO title holder.
Arther is an orthodox fighter that mostly leans on his front foot. He does his best work behind a solid and educated jab. He has enough power to keep any opponent honest, racking up 16 knockouts in his 23 victories. Of the 16 knockouts all but three of them happened before the fourth round, suggesting that he may be more dangerous early in the fight than he is late.
Dmitrii Bivol is a heavy favorite going into this match against Lyndon Arther, and for good reason. Arther will have to have the best performance of his career to pull it off. But this is boxing, upsets are never out of the question.
