DMITRY BIVOL lies on a bed of nails to relax – so fighting Artur Beterbiev again is a bed of roses.
The 34-year-old pinned his hopes on three judges awarding him the light-heavyweight undisputed honour in October, after a classy display.
But they spiked his dreams by handing his bearded 41-year-old rival a majority decision that left fans of the super-killer Canelo conquered deflated.
Somehow, Bivol refused to rage at none of the three judges preferring his brilliant back-foot skills to the Chechen’s thudding blows.
But, when the father-of-two chills out on a net of needles, we shouldn’t be surprised he took the disappointment with an ice-cool head.
Opening up on the bizarre contraption he uses for a form of meditation, Bivol said: “I use it to relax – not to sleep on!
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“Of course it’s painful but you need to relax to not feel the pain. If you tense then you feel pain.
“When you relax, your body melts and you don’t feel the pain. If you tense, then of course it hurts.
“It’s just a personal thing I like, I have some problems with my lower back so I use it to relax my lower back.
“And when I relax my lower back it helps my legs and everything else relax.
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“In life, you need to work and also relax, everything needs balance.
“I walk and run and work all day and it’s just another way for me to relax. It is good for the mind too.”
Another unlikely hobby that is good for Bivol’s laser-focused mind – but not for his bones – is his new love of snowboarding.
Despite having mega-money fights in the pipeline with Bivol and beyond, Bivol hits the slopes and occasionally damages his body and ego.
He explained: “I tried snowboarding once and then I had to buy two and am trying to learn.
“I have had a couple of small accidents but nothing big.
“I had a problem with my collarbone, I fell on it and felt like an idiot because I am supposed to be a professional boxer.
Of course it’s painful but you need to relax to not feel the pain. If you tense then you feel pain.
Dmitry Bivol
“But snowboarding helps clear my mind, I focus only on my balance, no boxing, and I am in amazing mountain places, surrounded by fresh air and floating down a mountain.”
Bivol had to miss the eighth birthday of his youngest son Nikon, at the start of fight week.
But he and 10-year-old Miron were in camp for the first battle and know that his daddy’s sacrifices are all for them.
But the old man is in no rush to push his boys into the same sport that has made him, especially after watching unknown American kids and his hero Arturo Gatti destroy themselves.
“I am missing them,” he said. “I call them everyday but kids don’t like video calls, they want face-to-face time.
“They have gloves and have trained but I haven’t pushed them.
“I remember being in America and watching young kids there spar and every round was a war, it was not sparring, it was fighting. Sparring should not be like that.
“I want them to understand what those three minutes mean but, when I saw that, I knew I never wanted my sons to train like that.
“I respect Arturo Gatti so much but I would never want my sons to fight like Arturo Gatti.”
Despite years on the Russian amateur team together, the pair have never bonded.
And even after a potential 24 rounds spent in each other’s pocket, Bivol rejects the idea the final bell will be the precursor to the sort of brotherly hug and lifelong connection that boxing’s greatest rivalries are usually sealed with.
“I have my kung fu and he has his – both are good,” he perfectly puts it.
“But, when this bell ends, we will just walk away.
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“We were in the same national team for a long time and we were not friends then, so we will not be friends now?
“If we weren’t friends then, why would we now?”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
