Dmitry Bivol fails to impress in win over Lenin Castillo

Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA light heavyweight title against Lenin Castillo, but his overly cautious performance didn’t win him any fans.

On the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Chazz Witherspoon on DAZN, Dmitry Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs) successfully defended his WBA light heavyweight title against Lenin Castillo (20-3-1, 15 KOs). However, his performance fell flat of expectations and left pundits questioning his potential.

Bivol was cautious to begin round 1. He threw his jab to Castillo’s head and body but kept things one punch at a time. Castillo rarely let his hands go and tried not to get hit.

Round 2 was a staring contest. Bivol walked Castillo down but did nothing when his back was to the ropes. He was looking for an opening but wasn’t willing to punch to create one. In the final seconds, Bivol connected on a left, right combination. He looked like he could have down that at any moment. It was hard to understand what he was waiting for.

Bivol targeted Castillo’s paunchy body in round 3, but he was still throwing one punch at a time. He had a hard time fluidly delivering combinations, and Castillo had a hard time moving his arms.

Bivol tried to open up in round 4, but he had a hard time landing anything significant. Castillo’s reluctance to throw punches allowed his hands to be in a permanent guard. He caught most of Bivol’s punches on the gloves and with his body.

Bivol and Castillo exchanged lead hooks to begin round 5. Both were more apt to fight, and Bivol landed a nice double left hook to Castillo’s body and head. Castillo was more aggressive, but that opened his defenses up, and he took more punishment than in previous rounds.

Round 6 was slow at first, but then Bivol hit Castillo with a right hook to the jaw that sent him to the canvas. Castillo got to his feet, but his legs were shaky. Bivol didn’t press him and allowed Castillo to recover and survive the round.

Castillo came alive a bit in the seventh. He pushed Bivol to the ropes with jabs and left hooks. Castillo started to use his size advantage. It was the first round he could have won on the judges’ scorecards.

The crowd cheered midway through the eighth when Castillo landed a combination on Bivol, who was trapped on the ropes. Bivol circled out and threw an occasional jab, but he showed no sense of urgency. He was content with scoring enough to win the round.

Bivol threw a rare combination to start round 9, but he didn’t keep his foot on the gas. He jabbed and hit Castillo with a right to the body, but that was as dynamic as his attack would get.

Rounds 10, 11, 12 were one giant monotonous ball of inaction. They repeated the pattern of previous rounds. This fight mimicked a glorified sparring match where Bivol had more talent than Castillo but lacked the killer instinct to put him away even when he had him hurt back in round 6.

Bivol won by unanimous decision but didn’t improve his stock in the light heavyweight division. He’s a skilled boxer but lacks the mean streak to punish his opponents and be an action fighter.