WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (17-0) made his six consecutive title defense yesterday in the co-main event of Usyk – Witherspoon, and is now ready for bigger challenge.
The 28-year-old defeated the Dominican Lenin Castillo (20-3-1) via UD.
After the fight, Bivol said that he wants to take on either the winner of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev or the Artur Beterbiev vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk fights.
“I want to fight the winner of Gvozdyk-Beterbiev or Canelo-Kovalev. I can fight them now because I won today,” said Bivol. “Why can’t I get the winner of Gvozdyk-Beterbiev? We are in the same division.”
It’s Fight week! #bivolcastillo pic.twitter.com/bpZnJyRvhp
— Dmitry Bivol (@bivol_d) October 7, 2019
Bivol wants a chance for unification match.
“Yes, everyone in the light heavyweight division is bigger than me, but I like this division because they’re a lot of good fighters,” said Bivol at the post-fight news conference last Saturday following his victory over Castillo. “I feel comfortable at light heavyweight. What about knockouts? My favorite fighters are Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr. and Muhammad Ali.”
“I like to watch their fights to see how they move, and show their defense. I like boxing because if you haven’t enough power, you can win [beat] someone. If you don’t have enough speed, you can use your movement and power.”
“This is boxing, and this is smart sport. You can win the fight with your brain. Of course, I want to go inside the ring and beat my opponents with a first round, and knock them out. But it’s not the best way for me, because I’m not a puncher like Mike Tyson. I’m a boxer. I use my legs and my brain to get a win, and a lot of people in the world can fight with their brain,” said Bivol.”
