Artur Beterbiev mentioned after the combat that he felt he had damage Dmitry Bivol, however he says he didn’t damage him sufficient throughout their undisputed mild heavyweight championship combat final Saturday evening.
The underdog Beterbiev began sluggish, getting caught up preventing Bivol’s recreation of boxing him within the first 5 rounds, however when he adjusted to his energy fashion within the sixth, the combat modified. He put Bivol on the run, bruised up his left eye, and managed the second a part of the combat.
Bivol solely fought sporadically from the sixth. Curiously, Bivol had his greatest moments within the seventh spherical when he went for the knockout, flurrying on Beterbiev with 9 consecutive photographs. That bombardment turned out to be the turning level of the combat, as Beterbiev got here storming again in that spherical, nailing Bivol with onerous photographs that had him trapped on the ropes, taking unhealthy punishment.
You can visibly see Bivol wilting in that seventh. After that time on, Bivol was lacking in motion within the closing 5 rounds, doing virtually nothing from the eighth spherical and looking out drained from the tempo. For the followers who thought Bivol received, they didn’t watch the photographs he was getting hit with and the way he’d given up preventing onerous.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) bought the nod from the judges, profitable a 12-round unanimous determination over WBA champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) on the Kingdom Area in Riyadh.
Bivol’s group isn’t dealing with the loss too properly, along with his supervisor, Vadim Kornilov, planning to file an official protest over the decide that scored it 116-112 for Beterbiev. The scores had been:
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
The protest does nothing to alter the end result and is a waste of time. Bivol misplaced, and the protest received’t change that.
“I damage him however not sufficient,” mentioned Artur Beterbiev to Secondsout, reflecting on his win over Dmitry Bivol. “Yeah, I feel so,” mentioned Beterbiev when requested if he’d wish to combat Bivol once more.
If there’s a rematch within the first half of 2025, it possible received’t finish properly for Bivol. He doesn’t have the facility or the war-like means to beat a fighter like Beterbiev.
“He’s bought to be extra energetic later within the combat, come ahead extra, put extra strain on Beterbiev, and be extra eye-catching,” mentioned Gareth A. Davies to BoxNation on what Bivol should do within the rematch. “It needs to be an instantaneous rematch. It needs to be in 5 or 6 months’ time.”
