IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beteriev (21-0, 20 KOs) looked like he was hunting down WBA champion Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) like he was his prey on Saturday to defeat him by a 12 round majority decision to win the undisputed champion at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Bivol looked good early but was being hunted from the fifth round and taking a lot of heavy shots from Beterbiev. The scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112. Promoter Eddie Hearn bristled at the scores for Beterbiev because he was convinced that Bivol had done more than enough to win.
“I really liked Beterbiev in the second third of that fight. I’ve got him the winner 116-112. I thought he won the last rounds,” said Gareth A. Davies to talkSport Boxing, scoring it for Artur Beterbiev 8-4 over Dmitry Bivol last Saturday. “I like his relentless punching.
“Yeah, a lot of punches on the gloves of Bivol. He was defensively brilliant. I went with Beterbiev.”
“I went with Beterbiev as well. I thought he won the last couple of rounds, and that was enough. I had it level after 10,” said Spencer Oliver. “116-114 is Beterbiev, and for me, it is the winner. For me, it was the relentless pressure, as predicted, that got Beterbiev over the line.”
“There was a lot of feeling for a lot of the fight that Artur Beterbiev was hunting Bivol,” said Gareth. “We know how clean Bivol is. We know he’s a brilliant boxer, but here there was a feeling that Beterbiev would take him apart. He was close to hurting him an awful lot of the time.”
It looked like Beterbiev was hunting Bivol nonstop from round five, and the pressure got a lot more in the championship rounds where it was clear thing he was in danger of losing.
“It was genius what Beterbiev was doing. He was putting his foot on the gas in the last 45 seconds of the round, and that was winning it. Sometimes, in the last 30 seconds of the round. That could be the difference between winning and losing the rounds if the rounds are close. For me, Artur Beterbiev did just enough to nick those rounds in a classic,” said Oliver.
Beterbiev was looking to steal the rounds by fighting hard in the final seconds. It’s too bad he wasn’t doing that throughout the rounds instead of waiting for the final 45 seconds. Bivol wouldn’t have survived if Beterbiev fought hard for the full three minutes of reach round.
“I do think we need to see a second fight,” said Gareth. “What Artur Beterbiev can do a year away from 40 years old is extraordinary.”
“For me, Artur Beterbiev is pound-for-pound #1,” said Oliver.
It looks like we’re going to see a second fight between undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev and Bivol if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is serious about wanting to make a rematch. He said earlier tonight that he wanted to see a second fight because he felt Bivol won by two rounds. The only thing that might get in the way of that is if Canelo Alvarez decides to move up to 175 and fight Beterbiev.
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