Former trainer Teddy Atlas had Artur Beterbiev winning 7-5 by a 115-113 score over Dmitry Bivol in their undisputed light heavyweight championship on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It looked like Bivol was tired in the late rounds and barely holding on under the pressure and power shots from Beterbiev.
Even if Bivol had wanted to stand and fight, he couldn’t because he was exhausted and worn down from the hard punches that Beterbiev hit him to the body and head.
It seemed like once Beterbiev started connecting with body shots in the seventh, it began draining Bivol like a battery. Bivol stopped throwing his combinations after that round and was essentially on the run in 8 through 12.
Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, felt that he’d been robbed, but that was just him doing his job, trying to save his popularity so that fans would want to see his fights in the future. If Hearn had told it like it is by saying that Bivol had wilted under the pressure, his popularity would diminish.
Atlas agrees that the judges gave it to the right guy, IBF, WBC, and WBO 175-lb champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), with them giving him the victory by a 12-round majority decision.
Atlas didn’t agree with the one judge scoring it 116-112 for Beterbiev. Atlas felt that it was a little wide. The scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
“I had it two rounds for Beterbiev. There were many rounds that were very close where Beterbiev closed strong for the round,” said Teddy Atlas to Fighthype, reacting to Artur Beterbiev’s win over Dmitry Bivol on Saturday. “I had it 115-113 for Beterbiev. There were a lot of close rounds, but Beterbiev smartly, experience-wise, closed the show a little strong and grabbed those rounds.
Where the fight changed entirely was when Bivol started strong in the seventh, hitting Beterbiev with a mini-flurry of punches to the head. That woke up Beterbiev, causing him to attack relentlessly in the final minute of the seventh, landing some huge headshots one after another. After the round, Bivol was never the same. He became very reluctant to attack in the remaining five rounds, and Beterbiev took over, dominating 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
“Bivol did a great job of being defensive when he had to, but being set for offense,” said Atlas. “He didn’t let the guy [Beterbiev] walk in and overcome him because if you just move on him and use your legs, Beterbiev is just going to track you down, and he’s going to get you like he’s tracking prey down.”
Bivol was throwing multiple keep-away jabs to prevent Beterbiev from attacking, but that didn’t work well in the final four rounds because he still came forward to land a lot of heavy shots. When Bivol would attack, Beterbiev came alive and unloaded numerous shots. The 11th and 12th were especially one-sided, with Beterbiev hammering an exhausted-looking Bivol, who looked like he was waving the white flag of surrender. He was no longer competitive.
“Bivol did a good job of showing angles, but that pressure doesn’t stop,” said Atlas. “It’s relentless. Beterbiev sort of told you that he knew he was almost 40. In the ninth round, he paced himself a little bit to save a little gas that he might not have done a couple of years ago.”
It looked like Beterbiev didn’t attack the way he should have in the ninth round because Bivol was still throwing a lot of jabs and landing quick combinations. If Beterbiev had attacked Bivol relentlessly as he did in rounds 10, 11, and 12, he likely would have knocked him out. Bivol couldn’t take his power.
“What did he do? He used that gas in the tenth. He used that gas in the championship rounds enough to pull out the fight in a very close fight. Never sleep on Beterbiev technically being sound because he is. I’m surprised Beterbiev didn’t go to the body more early. He went to the body late, and it made the difference out of Bivol and made him stand in front a little too much,” said Atlas.
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