Wednesday 1 November 2017 16:57, UK
Dmitry Bivol puts his WBA light-heavyweight world title on the line this Saturday live on Sky Sports, but what is there to know about the fearsome Russian…
The 26-year-old was born to a Moldovan father and a Korean mother. Having taken up boxing at the age of six, Bivol moved to Russia when he was 11 and he now lives in St Petersburg. He was born in Kyrgyzstan which has a population of around 6 million people, it is one of the world's least crowded countries.
As with many of the countries of the same terrain, Kyrgyzstan has a very strong horse-riding culture, Kok Boru is their traditional sport that includes riding on horseback while going for a goat's carcass.
Football, wrestling and ice hockey are the other most popular sports there ahead of boxing. Bivol recently met with Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, so he is already quite a famous face for the sport in both Kyrgyzstan and now Russia.
Bivol was a decorated amateur , winning two world championships at the junior (U17) level, as well as a bronze medal at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. He twice won the Russian national amateur boxing championships and his record as an amateur was 268-15.
At the 2013 World Combat Games in St Petersburg, the Russian took home gold and it was Britain's emerging prospect Jake Ball that he beat in the final.
Although Bivol had close to 300 amateur fights he never actually fought at the Olympics or world championships because he was unfortunately stuck as Russia's No 2 behind stablemate Egor Mekhontsev.
Well, lightweight Orzubek Nazarov held the WBA world title for almost five years during the 1990s before suffering the first loss of his career, while fellow Kyrgyz Almazbek Raiymkulov, nicknamed 'Kid Diamond', famously drew with Joel Casamayor and lost twice to Nate Campbell and Antonio DeMarco - the only blemishes on his record.
The most famous case, though, would be three-time heavyweight world champion Vitali Klitschko who was born in Belovodskoye, a town in the Chuy Region of Kyrgyzstan.
Since he turned professional in 2014, Bivol has been progressed very quickly. He won his first six fights by way of knockout and the hard-hitting Russian then claimed the WBA Interim light-heavyweight world title in his next outing.
He is now unbeaten in eleven fights and was recently elevated to the status of full champion after Badou Jack vacated the title.
In his most recent fight, he beat American world title challenger Cedric Agnew and stopped him in quicker time than Sergey Kovalev had done so three years earlier.
Bivol is a very, very good fighter. I think he will tie up the division. With Ward gone and Kovalev maybe coming towards the end, I think Bivol will take over. I would love to see him in with Kovalev.
Yep, it's fair to say that Bivol is hard-hitting and destructive in the ring. He is a come-forward, pressure fighter who really does pack a punch.
The 26-year-old is clever, though, and is smart with his high work rate, he certainly doesn't waste much.
Bivol will want to put on an explosive performance this Saturday, but Broadhurst has only lost once in his 21-fight career.
Unfortunately, though ,for the Australian, that one loss is a stoppage defeat to Robert Berridge who himself was emphatically stopped by Bivol earlier this year.
Watch Dmitry Bivol, Scott Quigg, Jamie McDonnell and Dereck Chisora box in Monte Carlo, live on Sky Sports from 7pm this Saturday, before Deontay Wilder defends his version of the world heavyweight title against Bermane Stiverne, live on Sky Sports, in the early hours of Sunday morning at 1am.
