Dmitry Bivol boxer

Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol (BEE-vol, Russian: Дмитрий Юрьевич Бивол; born 18 December 1990) is a Kyrgyz-born Russian professional boxer who has held the WBA light-heavyweight title since 2017. As an amateur, he won a gold medal at the 2013 World Combat Games in the 81 kg weight category. As of November 2021, Bivol is ranked as the world's second best active light-heavyweight by The Ring, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and ESPN and third by BoxRec.Bivol was born in Soviet Kyrgyzstan to a Moldovan father and an ethnic Korean mother. He took up boxing at the age of 6. Aged 11 he moved to Russia, where he eventually settled. Bivol was a decorated amateur, winning 2 world championships at the junior (U-17) level, as well as a bronze medal at the 2008 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in the middleweight division. Bivol won the Russian national amateur boxing championships in 2012 and 2014, as a light heavyweight. His record as an amateur is 268–15.Bivol made his professional debut in November 2014. He won his first 6 fights by knockout. Bivol sparred with Egor Mekhontsev, Jean Pascal, and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy early in his career. Bivol lives in St. Petersburg but trains in Southern California.Bivol won the interim WBA light-heavyweight title on 21 May 2016, beating previously undefeated Felix Valera by unanimous decision (119-107, 119-107, 116-111). Bivol dominated Valera, dropping him twice with combinations. At the time, the WBA had three different world titles, with Bivol holding the lesser version of them. Bivol's first defense came against Robert Berridge on 23 February 2017. Bivol easily overcame Berridge, pummeling him over 4 rounds before a technical knockout stoppage. Berridge was knocked down in round 3. At the start of round 4, Bivol opened a cut over Berridge's right eye. Following another knockdown and with Berridge bleeding profusely, the ringside doctor stopped the fight. Bivol then defended his title against Samuel Clarkson on 14 April 2017. The fight headlined a ShoBox show at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Bivol once again won in dominant fashion, knocking Clarkson down twice in the first round, before dropping him once more with a short right hand midway through round 4. Although Clarkson got up, the referee stopped the fight, giving Bivol a TKO win.Bivol sought to face WBA (Regular) champion Nathan Cleverly following his win over Clarkson. He appeared on the undercard of Ward-Kovalev II, in a non-title bout against Cedric Agnew. Agnew had previously lost to Clarkson. Bivol once again won quickly and emphatically, getting a 4th-round TKO for the third consecutive time. Agnew was dropped in the first round.As interim champion, Bivol was Cleverly's mandatory challenger, but the WBA granted Cleverly an exception for him to face Badou Jack. After Jack defeated Cleverly, the WBA ordered a Jack-Bivol purse bid. However, following WBA (Super) and unified champion Andre Ward's retirement, Jack decided to vacate his title, presumably to pursue one of the other vacant titles previously held by Ward.