Dmitry Bivol


Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol is a Russian professional boxer who has held the WBA light-heavyweight title since 2017. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. As of June 2020, Bivol is ranked as the world's best active light-heavyweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and third by BoxRec and The Ring.

Early life and amateur career

Bivol was born in Soviet Kyrgyzstan to a Moldovan father and an ethnic Korean mother. He took up boxing at the age of 6. Aged 11 he moved to Russia, where he eventually settled. Bivol was a decorated amateur, winning 2 world championships at the junior level, as well as a bronze medal at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in the middleweight division. Bivol won the Russian national amateur boxing championships in 2012 and 2014, as a light heavyweight. His record as an amateur is 268–15.

Professional career

Early career

Bivol made his professional debut in November 2014. He won his first 6 fights by knockout. Bivol sparred with Egor Mekhontsev, Jean Pascal, and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy early in his career. Bivol lives in St. Petersburg but trains in Southern California.

Interim WBA light-heavyweight champion

Bivol won the interim WBA light-heavyweight title on 21 May 2016, beating previously undefeated Felix Valera by unanimous decision. Bivol dominated Valera, dropping him twice with combinations. At the time, the WBA had three different world titles, with Bivol holding the lesser version of them. Bivol's first defense came against Robert Berridge on 23 February 2017. Bivol easily overcame Berridge, pummeling him over 4 rounds before a technical knockout stoppage. Berridge was knocked down in round 3. At the start of round 4, Bivol opened a cut over Berridge's right eye. Following another knockdown and with Berridge bleeding profusely, the ringside doctor stopped the fight. Bivol then defended his title against Samuel Clarkson on 14 April 2017. The fight headlined a ShoBox show at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Bivol once again won in dominant fashion, knocking Clarkson down twice in the first round, before dropping him once more with a short right hand midway through round 4. Although Clarkson got up, the referee stopped the fight, giving Bivol a TKO win.
Bivol sought to face WBA champion Nathan Cleverly following his win over Clarkson. He appeared on the undercard of Ward-Kovalev II, in a non-title bout against Cedric Agnew. Agnew had previously lost to Clarkson. Bivol once again won quickly and emphatically, getting a 4th-round TKO for the third consecutive time. Agnew was dropped in the first round.

WBA light-heavyweight champion

As interim champion, Bivol was Cleverly's mandatory challenger, but the WBA granted Cleverly an exception for him to face Badou Jack. After Jack defeated Cleverly, the WBA ordered a Jack-Bivol purse bid. However, following WBA and unified champion Andre Ward's retirement, Jack decided to vacate his title, presumably to pursue one of the other vacant titles previously held by Ward.

Bivol vs. Broadhurst

With the WBA's other two titles being vacated, interim champion Bivol was elevated to full champion. He was scheduled to fight Trent Broadhurst on an optional defense on 4 November 2017 at the Salle des Etoiles. As interim champion, Dmitry Bivol was ranked #1 by the WBA when the fight was announced, while Broadhurst was ranked #11. The announcement was met with incredulity by the media, due to many fighters ranked above Broadhurst being available. The WBA's #2 contender, Sullivan Barrera, took to Twitter to express his displeasure at being overlooked. The WBA's president, Gilberto Mendoza, later clarified that the winner of the bout will be ordered to fight the WBA's top contender within 120 days. Bivol won the fight by knockout with a clean right-handed shot at the end of the first round. The live broadcast of the fight averaged 341,000 viewers on HBO, while a same-day replay averaged 289,000 viewers.

Bivol vs. Barrera

Next Bivol faced the toughest test of his career on 3 March 2018 and dominated Sullivan Barrera and stopped him in the 12th and final round. Bivol was able to outbox and out-punch Barrera throughout the fight, then exploded suddenly with a massive right hand that put the Cuban down halfway into the final frame. Barrera did get up, but referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight for the TKO at 1:41. Bivol received a cut over his right eye early in the bout, and a haematoma that developed over his left eye as the fight went on. Both came from accidental clashes of heads. The fight was part of a doubleheader which saw Sergey Kovalev successfully defend his WBO title against Igor Mikhalkin. The card was confirmed in December 2017. After the fight, Bivol said through a translator, “I felt a little bit like an amateur tonight, it was a really great opponent. Barrera showed me a lot of things tonight, and I have to work on a lot of things. Thanks, Sullivan. I was a little bit reserved. I was thinking how much I need to go the rest of the fight, but in the 12th round, I knew I could knock him out. I stepped on the gas, and the knockout came.”
Bivol landed 243 of 778 of his punches, including 146 of 378 power shots, compared to just 75 of 606 for Barrera, who landed 65 of 273 of his power punches. Barrera, who has a solid jab, was also completely out-jabbed, landing just 10 of 333, compared to 97 of 400 for Bivol. The fight averaged 512,000 viewers, peaking at 570,000 viewers, on HBO.

Bivol vs. Chilemba

On 6 June 2018, Main Events announced that Bivol would make a defence against 31-year-old, longtime contender Isaac Chilemba on 4 August at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Bivol was happy he had the chance to fight a tough challenger, "I am glad that my next opponent will be a tough and well-known boxer in Chilemba. I will do my best to put on another exciting performance for all my fans." The fight would be a co-feature to Sergey Kovalev defending his WBO title against Eleider Álvarez. The idea of having both Bivol and Kovalev on the same card was part of a plan to have them face off in the fall of 2018 in a unification bout, however both had to come out victorious in their respected bouts.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 5,642, Bivol handed Chilemba his sixth career defeat by defeating him via a twelve-round unanimous decision, retaining his WBA title. The three judges scored the bout 120–108, 120–108, and 116–112 for Bivol. Other media outlets including ESPN also scored it a shutout win for Bivol. Bivol landed the harder and cleaner shots throughout the fight. Chilemba landed some nice punches, but not enough to take the rounds. Chilemba used his size to his advantage. Bivol appeared to hurt his right hand as he hardly used it after the first six rounds. Bivol appeared to have hurt his right hand early on. To many viewers, Bivol's right hand gave him a bit of aching after the early rounds. Chilemba showed a great chin in absorbing Bivol's best punches in the first six rounds. Bivol displayed his defensive skills as he blocked many of Chilemba's punches. The punch Chilemba landed the most was a jab. After the fight, Bivol said, "Chilemba is a good fighter and he had champion spirit tonight. He is a strong fighter. I want to fight more good fighters. I don't know who my next opponent will be." Bivol described Chilemba as an awkward fighter. Chilemba believed he dominated the fight after round 6 and should have won the fight. According to CompuBox, Bivol landed 154 of 447 punches thrown and Chilemba landed 73 of his 472 thrown. The fight, which took place on HBO, averaged 583,000 viewers and hit a peak of 632,000 viewers.
In the main event, Álvarez knocked out Kovalev to claim the WBO title, putting a dent in Bivol's plan to fight Kovalev in the fall.

Bivol vs. Pascal

Weeks after defeating Chilemba, Bivol's manager, Vadim Kornilov, revealed Bivol would likely return to the ring in December 2018. With the other light heavyweight titleholders already scheduled to make defences, Kornilov stated, "We're trying to get the biggest name we can to get Dmitry more exposure fighting top guys." In September, there were rumours circulating that Bivol would defend his title against Joe Smith Jr. in December. A month later, TVA Sports and The Montreal Journal reported that former unified champion Jean Pascal was in talks to fight Bivol on 24 November 2018. The news came after it was also reported that Smith was reportedly closing in on signing a deal to fight IBF champion Artur Beterbiev in December. Pascal was one of the frontrunners to fight Bivol in August 2018. Only a few hours later, the fight was announced to take place on HBO at the Etess Arena in Atlantic City. Before talks emerged, Pascal was originally scheduled to fight Canadian cruiserweight champion Gary Kopas in Canada on 9 November, however the fight was cancelled in early October after Pascal needed time to attend his father's funeral.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
17Win17–0 Gilbert Lenin CastilloUD1212 Oct 2019 Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois, USRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
16Win16–0 Joe Smith Jr.UD129 Mar 2019 Turning Stone Resort Casino, Verona, New York, USRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
15Win15–0 Jean PascalUD1224 Nov 2018 Etess Arena, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
14Win14–0 Isaac ChilembaUD124 Aug 2018 Etess Arena, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
13Win13–0 Sullivan BarreraTKO12, 1:413 Mar 2018 The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
12Win12–0 Trent BroadhurstKO1, 3:004 Nov 2017 Casino e Monte Carlo Salle Medecin, Monte Carlo, MonacoRetained WBA light-heavyweight title
11Win11–0 Cedric AgnewTKO4, 1:2717 Jun 2017 Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, US
10Win10–0 Samuel ClarksonTKO4, 1:4014 Apr 2017 MGM National Harbor, Oxon Hill, Maryland, USRetained WBA interim light-heavyweight title
9Win9–0 Robert BerridgeTKO4, 0:4723 Feb 2017 Nizhny Tagil Forum, Nizhny Tagil, RussiaRetained WBA interim light-heavyweight title
8Win8–0 Yevgeni MakhteienkoUD1029 Oct 2016 Ekaterinburg Arena, Ekaterinburg, Russia
7Win7–0 Felix Valera1221 May 2016 Khodynka Ice Palace, Moscow, RussiaWon WBA interim light-heavyweight title
6Win6–0 Cleiton ConceiçãoKO4, 2:2418 Feb 2016 The Hangar, Costa Mesa, California, US
5Win5–0 Jackson JuniorTKO4, 1:594 Nov 2015 TatNeft Arena, Kazan, RussiaWon vacant WBA Inter-Continental light-heavyweight title
4Win4–0 Felipe RomeroKO8, 2:3827 Aug 2015 The Hangar, Costa Mesa, California, USWon vacant WBC–USNBC Silver light-heavyweight title
3Win3–0 Joey Vegas4, 1:1022 May 2015 Luzhniki Palace of Sports, Moscow, Russia
2Win2–0 Konstantin PiternovTKO3, 1:1210 Apr 2015 Luzhniki Palace of Sports, Moscow, Russia
1Win1–0 Jorge Rodriguez Olivera6, 1:4428 Nov 2014 Luzhniki Palace of Sports, Moscow, Russia