DMITRY BIVOL’s journey to the boxing ring wouldn’t have started had it not been for martial arts legend Jackie Chan.
WBA light-heavyweight champ Bivol, like so many others, grew up watching the Hollywood legend take names and kick the backsides of the baddies in his numerous films.
Dmitry Bivol began his martial arts journey at a young age
Chan’s legendary fight scenes inspired Bivol to take up karate, but a lack of competition eventually saw him make his way to the boxing ring.
He revealed to SunSport: “I always wanted to learn how to fight and protect myself.
“I watched many movies with Jackie Chan when I was a kid, and I always wanted to learn to fight like him.
“My father first took me to a training facility to do karate, but there were not many competitions there. Then my father took me to a boxing gym where I fell in love with boxing.”
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Like many amateur boxers, Bivol had aspirations of winning Olympic gold – although he quickly shelved that dream when he turned professional sooner than expected.
The 31-year-old said: “Initially my ultimate dream was to go to the Olympics and to win a gold medal, but my career laid out in a different direction.
“I became a professional boxer before going to the Olympics and always wanted to achieve and go as far up as I can in the pro ranks.
“It is important for me to just know that I did everything I can in the sport, and gave it all to achieve the highest ranks.”
Bivol will return to the ring a week on Saturday against boxing’s pound-for-pound king, Canelo Alvarez.
Alvarez was at his imperious best in his super-middleweight unification bout with Caleb Plant last November, but Bivol is confident of springing a huge upset.
He said: “First of all, Canelo has had close fights and has been beaten before.
“Every boxer has certain qualities and makes mistakes.
“My goal is to capitalise on those mistakes in the fight. I hope that everybody will tune it to watch the fight.
Bivol is confident he will retain his WBA title against boxing’s pound-for-pound king
“I might not be the strongest or the quickest, but I have a full package of boxing qualities that I bring into this fight.
“My package is what makes me who I am and this package of skills is what I will come into the fight with on May 7th.
“It is very important to be very focused and concentrated when you are fighting somebody of the top calibre.
“Every move you make and every punch matters and I have be at the top of my game to not miss any punches or attacks, and land more punches on my opponent.”
Bivol is an underdog going into his ninth defence of the WBA 175lb strap but sees no other outcome than him leaving Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena with the belt on his shoulder.
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He said: “I unconditionally believe in myself in this fight just like I have in every previous fight. If I do everything as I am planning, I believe that I will be victorious in this fight.
“I have dedicated my life to this sport, and this basically answers this question.”
