WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (17-0) made his six consecutive title defense yesterday in the co-main event of Usyk – Witherspoon.
The 28-year-old defeated the Dominican Lenin Castillo (20-3-1) via UD after hard fought12 rounds from both gentlemen. The Russian was the one who was dictating everything, as his adversary was productive only with his counter punches, but as time went by Bivol made the right adjustments and he barely got hit with good shots.
The champion dropped his opponent in the sixth round, but Castillo managed to get up and make it until the end of the 12th, just to hear the UD (120-107, 119-108, and 119-108).
Unfortunately for Bivol, fans in the arena started to boo him due to the lack of excitement in the fight. Of course, it’s not Bivol’s fault his opponent wasn’t on his level, but we have to acknowledge the fact that the Russian need to work on his power punches in order to compete with any of the other champions in his division.
A few days ago Bivol insisted that if he defeats Lenin, he’d like to face the winner of next Saturday’s unification fight between IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and WBC champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk or the winner of Kovalev – Canelo.
