Tony Bellew claims Dmitry Bivol underperformed against Craig Richards before winning against Canelo Alvarez

Ahead of Craig Richards' British clash against south London rival Joshua Buatsi this weekend, former world champion Tony Bellew expressed his thoughts on Dmitry Bivol's performance against Richards back in 2021.

The Brit came up short against the Russian, who beat Richards by unanimous decision to retain his WBA Light-Heavyweight World Title in Manchester.

In approach to the Richards fight this weekend, Bellew has suggested what he thought went wrong for the Brit when he faced the light-heavyweight champion. Bellew was asked if Richards' loss to Bivol affected his opinion on the outcome of Richards' fight against Buatsi, to which Bellew replied:

"Two fights previous to the build-up fight [for Richards vs. Bivol], Craig Richards has a draw on his record against a guy who's 11-1. Craig Richards has that draw because he underperformed when he went into the fight. Dmitry Bivol underperformed when he went into his fight with him [Richards]. Canelo Alvarez then underperformed when he went in against Dmitry Bivol so, fighters have off-nights."

Bellew then added:

"It's boxing, it's the way it goes, I just believe Canelo Alvarez had an off-night against Dmitry Bivol. I thought Dmitry Bivol was brilliant but then when Dmitry Bivol faced Craig Richards, I thought Craig Richards was brilliant and Dmitry bivol had a bit of an off-night. Fighters do have off-nights, it's not a bad thing."

The fight between Richards and Bivol was expected by many to be a simple night’s work for the champion when initially announced, but Richards put up a valiant effort. Richards was competitive throughout, but was ultimately outclassed by the champion. The scorecards presented Bivol with a unanimous decision win (118-110, 115-113, 115-114).

Richards bounced back after his defeat by beating Marek Matyja via TKO in October. The Brit took away the vacant WBA International Light-Heavyweight Title, which he will put on the line this weekend against Joshua Buatsi.

Watch Bellew's full interview with 'iFL TV' here:

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Will Craig Richards underperform again?

The intriguing clash between Richards and Joshua Buatsi will be an eliminator for the WBA Light Heavyweight Championship. The current champion is, of course, Dmitry Bivol, who defeated Canelo Alvarez in his last defense.

Undefeated Joshua Buatsi (15-0) is the favorite for the fight. Buatsi has had an exciting career so far with 13 KOs in his 15 professional fights. The 2016 Olympian stopped Ričards Bolotņiks in his last fight.

With Richards coming up against a man who finishes most of his opponents, the 'Spider' will have a hard night's work ahead of him. With two losses and one draw already on his record, the Brit cannot afford to slip up and underperform once again, as he will be under lights in London’s O2 Arena.