In the 10-year history of The Ringside Boxing Show, this week's featured guest was a first: Dmitry Bivol was our first Russian, born in the Soviet Kyrgyzstan, trained in St. Petersburg, Russia.
We spoke with the undefeated WBA light heavyweight champ about growing up as a mixed-race athlete in Russia (his mother is Korean, his father Moldovan), his spectacular amateur career, his impressions of the United States, and, of course
, his upcoming title defense against Isaac Chilemba this coming Saturday night on HBO.
This is a fascinating interview with international flavor.
Before our interview with Bivol, Paul McLaughlin gives us a British perspective on the weekend's spectacular fights at London's 02 Arena, where Dillian Whyte survived a near KO in the final 30 seconds for a narrow decision over Joseph Parker, Dereck Chisora scored a dramatic KO over Carlos Takam, and Katie Taylor continued to dominate.
Our expert analysts, Travis Hartman, Rizwaan Zahid, and John J. Raspanti also talk about the fights in England, as well as a great Showtime card headlined by Mikey Garcia's risky bout with Robert Easter Jr., a preview of Mikey's potential 12-pound leap to face P4P welterweight Errol Spence Jr., and Luis Ortiz's position in the heavyweight division, where his skill and punching power still make him a fighter too risky to face.
Dennis Taylor is host of The Ringside Boxing Show, editor/publisher of www.ringsideboxingshow.com, and co-author (with John J. Raspanti) of "Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy," an Amazon bestseller.