This Saturday night in the glittering city of Monte Carlo, undefeated sensation Dmitry Bivol will look to defend his WBA interim strap against unheralded Australian prospect Trent Broadhurst.
This will be the main event of a packed Matchroom Sports card which includes other titleholders Jamie McDonnell in a rematch of his disputed first fight against dangerous Venezuelan Liborio Solis, and an always entertaining Dereck Chisora up against untested European Heavyweight Champion, Agit Kabayel.
Dmitry Bivol comes into this fight as a colossal -4000 favorite with Trent Broadhurst coming back as a +2500 underdog.
While these odds are gigantic, this is another fight where they appear justified as despite having only eleven professional fights, Bivol does look like the real deal and that he thoroughly belongs at a world class level.
Bivol’s last fight over veteran journeyman Cedric Agnew put the boxing world on notice as to what Dmitry Bivol was capable of. Agnew who had built up an impressive ring resume of 29-2 heading into the fight was utterly outclassed by Bivol as the younger man outmaneuvered and outworked the American fighter leading to a warranted TKO in just the fourth round.
What made this performance even more impressive was the fact Cedric Agnew had given former P4P star Sergey Kovalev a tough fight just three years earlier, opening up two bad cuts on the Russian champion only to eventually succumb to some sublime left hooks from Kovalev midway through the seventh round.
This disparity in performance against Agnew has shown Bivol to be an extremely gifted talent and that he is firmly in the mix for serious titles at 175lb.
Trent Broadhurst on the other hand is a relatively unknown quantity on the world scene. Boasting a seemingly impressive record of 20-1, a closer examination reveals his opponents share a combined tally of 221-238 wins to losses, hardly a who’s who of elite level talent.
Going into this fight its hard to see where Broadhursts success will come from. Bivol is the complete package employing nimble footwork with electric hands. With his high guard he plays a predator role in the ring as he constantly comes forward looking to plant hard shots to the head and body that will eventually leave just enough gaps in the opponents defense that he can shoot in his torpedo straight left and rights to potentially end the show. The demoralizing aspect for most opponents is the fact that his reflexes are so fast they can’t take advantage of the opportunity to counter when he does open up and I see Broadhurst being no different. While Broadhurst does possess power, especially in his right hand, he’s simply too methodical and deliberate to trouble Bivol in this fight for long.
Take Bivol to win this one inside the distance.
Pick: Dmitry Bivol via KO/TKO
