By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten Dmitry Bivol of Russia will be defending his WBA Light Heavyweight Title against Trent Broadhurst of Australia this Saturday, November 4th in Monte Carlo. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the UK on Sky Sports while fans in North America can catch the action on HBO. Bivol last fought in June when he stopped Cedric Agnew in the fourth round. Broadhurst was last in the ring in February when he stopped Nader Hamdan in the third round.
The 26-year-old Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan and now fights out of Saint Petersburg. 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 63 rounds and has compiled a perfect record of 11-0 with 9 Kos. He certainly has better-than-average power with a knockout ratio of 82 per cent. Bivol stands 6-feet-tall, but has an unlisted reach.
He’s faced a few decent opponents so far with wins over 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 recently when Badou Jack gave up the WBA title after beating former champ Nathan Cleverly. Broadhurst is ranked just 11th by the WBA so it seems unfair that he’s getting a title shot.
However, the winner of this bout is supposed to face the top-ranked challenger next. The 29-year-old Broadhurst hails from Slacks Creek in Queensland and has an impressive record of 20-1 with 12 Kos. His lone defeat was a fifth-round stoppage at the hands of Robert Berridge in October of 2011. Broadhurst has decent power with a knockout ratio of 57 per cent, but he hasn’t really faced anybody recognizable other than Berridge. He turned pro in 2010 and has 91 rounds under his belt since then.
Broadhurst has won some regional titles as a pro, but not much else is known about him. In fact, there’s not even a listing for his height and reach, so we’re not really sure exactly how big he is. What we do know is that he was stopped by Berridge when he stepped up in class the last time and that he hasn’t really done anything as of yet to earn a title shot. He seems to be brought in as a sacrificial lamb against Bivol and could be out of his depth here against the power-punching champ.
Prediction…
With all of his amateur experience and punching power, this looks like it could be a mismatch for the champion Bivol. Look for him to defend his title by stopping Broadhurst.
