Few fighters have been so equally matched, at such a high level, with so much on the line as Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
And that was just last October.
On Saturday, under similarly steeped circumstances, the Russian countrymen ran it back in the main event of a fully loaded fight card – again in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – just 133 days after their first gloriously back-and-forth battle. How could the rematch possibly live up to their first fight?
With Bivol, the fight seemingly slipping through his fingers, finding the formula in the middle rounds and roaring back to edge Beterbiev and take over the undisputed light heavyweight championship on a majority decision by scores of 114-114, 116-112, 115-113.
Bivol moved to 24-1 (12 KOs) and likely set up a trilogy with Beterbiev, 21-1 (20 KOs), who suffered his first career defeat and would undoubtedly welcome a rubber match.
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