By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Dmitry Bivol of Russia will be defending his WBA Light Heavyweight Title against Lenin Castillo of the Dominican Republic at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago this Saturday, October 12th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on DAZN. Bivol last fought in March when he beat Joe Smith by unanimous decision. Castillo last saw action in march as well when he stopped Reinaldo Gonzalez after the fifth round.
October 10, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Dmitriy Bivol and Lenin Castillo pose after the final press conference for the Matchroom Boxing card Saturday night at the Wintrust Center in Chicago . Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA
The 28-year-old Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan and now fights out of Saint Petersburg, Russia. He had an excellent amateur career with a record of 268-15 and won numerous national championships before turning pro in 2014. Since then he’s boxed 112 rounds and has compiled a perfect record of 16-0 with 11 Kos. He has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 68.6 per cent, but has gone the distance in his last three outings. Bivol stands 6-feet-1-inch tall, but has an unlisted reach. He’s got smooth boxing skills and always seems to eventually wear his foes down with his heavy hands.
Bivol’s faced a few decent opponents so far with wins over Smith, Jean Pascal, Isaac Chilemba, Sullivan Barrera, Cedric Agnew, Robert Berridge and Felix Valera. Bivol won the interim WBA Championship in May of 2016 when he beat Valera by a unanimous decision. He was elevated to full champion when Badou Jack gave up the WBA title after beating former champ Nathan Cleverly. However, fans would love to see him step up the level of opposition and try to unite the titles with WBC champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk, WBO belt holder Sergey Kovalev or IBF king Artur Beterbiev. Gvozdyk and Beterbiev will be doing exactly that when the meet in the next few weeks.
Castillo’s a 31-year-old with a record of 20-2-1 with 15 Kos. He’s 6-feet-2-inches tall with a 76-inch reach which gives him an inch advantage in height over Bivol. Castillo has boxed 89 rounds since turning pro in 2010. He enjoyed a fine amateur career and fought at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China as a welterweight. He won the vacant WBO NABO Light Heavyweight Title in 2018 with a ninth-round stoppage over Aaron Mitchell.
His defeats came to Joseph Williams by majority decision in 2017 and to Marcus Browne by unanimous decision in August of last year. His draw was an eight-rounder with Travis Peterkin in 2015. Castillo has pretty good power himself with a current knockout ratio of 65.2 per cent. His biggest wins as a pro have been against Mitchell, John Cortez, Andy Perez, Jose Miguel Torres, Emilio Calletano and Eduardo Mercedes.
Prediction…
Nobody’s ever sure which Bivol is going to show up. At his best, he looks like a devastating puncher who can take anybody out. However, he sometimes looks lethargic and is forced to go the distance. Perhaps Bivol fights to the level of his opponent which means he needs to take Castillo seriously since he has enough power do cause damage. However, I expect Bivol to do enough to retain his title when all is said and done.
