By Ian S Palmer
Original article; https://www.sportsbetlistings.com/boxing/dmitry-bivol-vs-malik-zinad-betting-odds-and-prediction/23665/
Unbeaten Dmitry Bivol of Russia will be defending his WBA Super World, and IBO Light Heavyweight Titles this Saturday, June 1st against undefeated Malik Zinad of Lybia. It’s the 12th defence of the WBA Belt and the first for the IBO Title as Bivol won it the last time out in December when he beat Lyndon Arthur via a unanimous decision. The 12-rounder from Saudi Arabia can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay per view. Zinad was last in the ring in April when he beat Jerome Pampellone by 12-round majority decision.
The 33-year-old Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan and now fights out of California. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career with a reported record of 268-15 and won numerous national championships before turning pro in 2014. Since then he’s boxed 184 rounds and has compiled a perfect record of 22-0 with 11 Kos. He has pretty good power in his punches even though his current knockout ratio stands at just 50 per cent. In addition, he has gone the distance in his last nine fights with his last knockout victory coming in 2018 when he stopped Sullivan Barrera in the 12th round.
Bivol, who stands 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach, owns smooth boxing skills and always seems to eventually wear his foes down with his heavy hands. He’s faced some pretty good opponents so far with wins over Gilberto Ramirez, Canelo Alvarez, Lenin Castillo, Joe Smith, Jean Pascal, Isaac Chilemba, Sullivan Barrera, Cedric Agnew, Robert Berridge and Felix Valera. Bivol won the interim WBA Championship in May, 2016 when he beat Valera by a unanimous decision.
He was then elevated to full champion when Badou Jack gave up the WBA title after beating former champ Nathan Cleverly. He’d like to unify the light heavyweight titles at some time by taking on WBC and IBF champ Artur Beterbiev and that was who he was supposed to fight this weekend but Beterbiev had to pull out due to an injury. Bivol seems to fight to the level of his opposition and he sometimes looks mediocre against average boxers but certainly raised his game against Alvarez and Ramirez regardless of what the scorecards read in the Canelo fight.
The 30-year-old Zinad resides in Malta and also possesses a perfect 22-0 record but has more Ko’s than Bivil as he’s racked up 16 of them and has boxed 102 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. As far as power is concerned, Zinad is well above average as 72.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage but he’s gone the distance in his last four fights. He measures 6-feet-1-inch tall with an unlisted reach which gives him an inch edge in height on the champion.
As a pro, Zinad captured the vacant WBF International Light Heavyweight Title in 2016 when he stopped Attila Palko in the sixth round and added the vacant IBO Inter-Continental Belt in 2021 by halting Timur Nikarkhoev in the ninth round. The next belt he won was the vacant WBC Mediterranean Light Heavyweight version in 2021 when he halted Aimir Skrijelj in the third stanza. Zinad has fought exclusively in Europe as a pro and will be taking a huge leap in class against Bivol.
Prediction…
Fans are never sure which Bivol will show up. At his best he looks like a devastating puncher who can take anybody out but often looks lethargic while being forced to go the distance and doing just enough to win. Bivol seems to fight to the level of his opponent too often but was at his best against Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez. He needs to be wary of Zinad’s power though as he has enough of it to do some damage. Bivol has all of the tools needed to be a top-10, pound-for-found boxer but needs to utilize them in every fight not just against the top-tier opponents. Bivol should win this fight but there’s a good chance he goes the distance once again.
