Dmitry Bivol dethrones Artur Beterbiev and secures all four world titles in the light heavyweight division.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Dmitry Bivol (24-1, 12 knockouts) has made history by becoming the undisputed light heavyweight world champion with a majority decision over Artur Beterbiev (21-1, 20 knockouts). The judges scored the fight 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113 in favor of the Russian technical specialist.
The eagerly awaited rematch began with Bivol’s familiar tactical approach. In the first two rounds, he used his jab and footwork to avoid Beterbiev’s brutal punching power. But the unbeaten knockout king Beterbiev found his rhythm from round 3 onwards. He put Bivol under increasing pressure, cutting him off in the ring and hitting him with cracking punches to the head and body.
The turning point came in the second half of the fight: Bivol regained momentum and turned up the pace. He forced Beterbiev onto the defensive with quick combinations and intelligent ring strategy. The usually so dangerous knockout king hardly found any answers to Bivol’s clever series of punches.
The final three minutes were pure action: Beterbiev knew he needed a knockout to claim victory and landed a huge right hand. But his opponent defended skillfully in reverse and saved himself until the final bell.
After the fight, Bivol was overjoyed: “I’m just so happy. Last year was tough for me. To be honest, losing back then was a relief because I felt less pressure. I just wanted to do my best from round 1 to round 12. I was better and much more confident.”
With this victory, the score is now 1:1 between Bivol and Beterbiev. The boxing world can look forward to another epic deciding fight, as a trilogy duel with a final showdown between the two superstars seems inevitable.
Text: Adam Noble-Forcey