Bio

Dmitry Yuryevich Bivol (Russian: Дмитрий Юрьевич Бивол; born 18 December 1990) is a Russian professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Association (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 2022, Bivol is ranked as the world's third best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, fifth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), sixth by The Ring, and seventh by the Boxing Writers Association of America and ESPN. He is also ranked as the best light heavyweight by The Ring, ESPN, and BoxRec, and second by TBRB. He was listed by multiple sources as the fighter of the year for 2022, including being selected as The Ring magazine Fighter of The Year. Early life Dmitry Bivol's father was born in Soviet Moldova while his mother is an ethnic Korean born in Soviet Kazakhstan. Dmitry's parents moved to Soviet Kyrgyzstan after graduating and marrying. Dmitry was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan until the age of 11, when he moved to Saint Petersburg, Russia. Amateur career Dmitry Bivol took up boxing at the age of 6 in Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan. Bivol was a naturally bigger kid and he weighed a lot compared to an average-size boy of his age. He explains how his confidence grew as he started to win over much older guys in his amateur bouts. 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.