Dmitry Bivol defeated Artur Beterbiev to become the new undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world; Beterbiev, previously unbeaten, had handed Bivol his first loss when they boxed in October, but Bivol got his revenge and took the unified championships at the ANB Arena in Riyadh
Dmitry Bivol took a revenge win to defeat Artur Beterbiev and become the new undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world.
The great rivals engaged each other in a second world championship clash of the highest quality.
Bivol finished with a majority decision win, 114-114 on one card, but 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour on the other two, unifying the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF 175lb titles, all four of the major belts.
- He had lost for the first time in his career when he boxed Beterbiev in October. Then he had become the first professional fighter to take Beterbiev the distance. Beterbiev had beaten him on a close, majority decision in that first contest, a result which had divided opinion.
It left them both fighting to decide ultimate supremacy at 175lbs once again.
But Beterbiev charged on. A thudding right hook hit Bivol hard and the two opened up with both hands. Beterbiev wanted him to trade and he hammered shots into him to start the fourth round too.
Rather than Bivol’s movement choosing where the fight was fought, Beterbiev was backing him up. Slashing counters from Bivol couldn’t put off the champion and he had to duck a big Beterbiev right hook.
Beterbiev chased him down in the fifth round. He went down to the body with hard, hurtful punches landing round the midriff. Then he directed the assault to the head as Bivol pedalled back.
But a stinging salvo of punching from Bivol broke through Beterbiev’s guard. He saw Beterbiev out of position and his cross snapped in, just as Beterbiev jabbed him back.
He had to be wary of a sudden Bivol left, but Beterbiev hunted for further openings.
Bivol however steadied himself in the seventh round. He landed his right early in the eighth round as well. Heartened, he pressed the champion with further combinations. He smacked Beterbiev with a flush cross and then slammed his right hook into him too.
Beterbiev looked to smack his cross through Bivol’s punches and the challenger moved away once more. Bivol though pocketed a brace of quick shots to the body and then caught Beterbiev once again stepping in.
