Artur Beterbiev Becomes Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion

At the end of 12 rounds in Riyadh on Saturday, one thing was clear. The outcome of the fight for the undisputed, unified light heavyweight championship would be on a razor-thin margin and hotly debated.

Artur Beterbiev overcame a slow start to win a close fight with Dmitry Bivol. Photo: Mikey Williams, Top Rank Boxing

The man now holding all four belts for the first time is Artur Beterbiev of Montreal, Quebec, Canada (21-0, 20 KOs), hearing the final bell for the first time to win by majority decision. Beterbiev adds the WBA belt held by opponent Dmitry Bivol of St. Petersburg, Russia (23-1, 12 KOs) to his WBC/WBA/IBF World Light Heavyweight belts.

The scorecards were 116-112 from Pawel Kardyni of Poland, 115-113 from Glenn Feldman of the U.S., and 114-114 by Manuel Oliver Palomo of Panama.

A look at the judges scorecards for Beterbiev vs. Bivol. Photo: Courtesy Ben Damon, Fox Sports AU

After the fight in the tension-filled arena, neither the winner nor the loser was happy about his performance.

“I feel – not bad,” said Beterbiev. “I did not good today. I want more good boxing today, more quality. I didn’t like this fight. I’ll do better one day.”

Beterbiev described the fight as uncomfortable rather than tough.“Dmitry, he’s a world champion too. He has good skills, better than me. But today, Allah chose me.”

The new champion expressed frustration with his performance. Photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions

Beterbiev expressed a little frustration not being able to land enough punches on Bivol, and said he felt he couldn’t slow Bivol down. Hearing a final bell for the first time Beterbiev said, “I’m usually not waiting for bell. But today, I am lucky too,” adding the experience was a positive for him.

“Thank you to Riyadh Season, to Saudi Arabia, and His Excellency. I got this chance,” said Bivol. “I have to do everything perfect. I don’t have any explanation because it could look like excuses. I just want to give congratulations to Artur and his team. He deserved it. No problem. I just have time to make another decision for my future. That’s it.”

Asked about the decision, Bivol said, “I did my job. I felt that I could make better. I always could make better. It’s just some opinion of judges. Congratulations, Artur … he won.”

Bivol said he could feel Beterbiev’s power, pointing to damage around his left eye, where he said Beterbiev pushed his own hands back into his face.

Bivol Starts Strong, Beterbiev Comes On Strong

Dmitry Bivol controlled the range and dominated the early rounds, stifling Artur Beterbiev’s offense. Photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions

Both men came in well-prepared and in condition to go all 12 rounds. While Beterbiev admitted his knee may have affected his performance, it didn’t appear so in the ring, and it didn’t hamper him enough to be considered a weakness Bivol could exploit.

Bivol’s exceptional footwork and movement helped him avoid the fate of all of Beterbiev’s previous opponents who failed to go the distance. The judges rewarded Beterbiev for greater aggression and the pressure he leveraged against Bivol, especially down the stretch and in the championship rounds.

As expected, Bivol started immediately controlling distance, moving with ease laterally from side to side, darting into land jabs and hooks, and stepping out of range. Beterbiev himself admitted later he started slowly speaking to the media after the fight. “For me, I need a couple rounds to wake up. Sometimes I wake up right away. Today was like this.”

Dmitry Bivol got into more exchanges with Artur Beterbiev in the middle rounds. Photo: Mikey Williams, Top Rank Boxing

It allowed Bivol to build his confidence. But he also pushed the boundaries in the middle rounds, not always with positive outcomes as Beterbiev began to land more shots.

As seen in so many of his fights, Beterbiev moves in like a threatening dark thunderstorm. The mere expectation of being hit creates drama. Beterbiev increased his punch output, forcing Bivol to work harder and pour more effort into defending himself, rather than fighting forward.

All three judges scored rounds ten, 11, and 12 for Beterbiev. The only rounds the judges disagreed on were rounds four and seven. For the outrage over the scores, these are remarkably similar.

Beterbiev landed 137 of 682 punches thrown (20%), while Bivol landed 141 of 417 thrown (34%). Both landed 31 body shots each. Bivol landed 50% of his power punches, Beterbiev just 34%; Bivol was more accurate while throwing fewer punches overall. Beterbiev had his best outcomes in the final three rounds.

Artur Beterbiev: ‘I did bad work’

Artus Beterbiev was hard on his performance despite winning all three championship rounds when he needed to. Photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions

Even in the post-fight news conference, Beterbiev continued to be hard on himself, a remarkable response. It seems almost a touch of survivor’s guilt by the new unified champion, who should have been elated.

“Like I say, I’m not a boxer. I did bad work. But Marc (Ramsey), my team, will prove my words. I did what we prepared, some of the work but not all the work. I don’t know why.

“I’m more critical of myself. Even all my last 20 fights, because I win by knockout, I always complain about my skills. That’s why I don’t like what I did. I want to do more better, always,” explained Beterbiev.

Trainer Marc Ramsey says the team avoids being complacent. “We’re going to sit down and look at it. He knows, I know – we did good, it’s not a bad performance but we believe we can do even better than this. We’re happy with all these belts, but on Monday morning, we’ll look for a new objective.”

Dmitry Bivol: ‘I didn’t win, and that’s it’

Dmitry Bivol made no excuses, but could not hide his anguish over the loss. Photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions

Bivol could not hide his disappointment even as he politely answered questions about the loss.

“I felt like everything was under control before the last round, to be honest. I felt like I landed more clean punches. But boxing is not about only clean punches. It’s about pressure also, how you impress judges. You need to count rounds, not punches.

Still, Bivol refused to make any excuses.

“My philosophy is to be perfect. Not to answer questions about why you did this, why you did that. I feel shame trying to explain why I didn’t win this fight. I didn’t win, and that’s it.”

Hearn: ‘I find it sickening’

Matchroom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn called the fight “a master class” by Dmitry Bivol and said he would demand a rematch. Photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was livid after the fight, calling it a master class by Bivol. “I find it sickening that after a lifetime of hard work, Dmitry Bivol is not the undisputed champion tonight. He won that fight,” adding that judge Pawel Kardyni, who scored it 116-112, should never work in the sport again.

Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, usually an even-tempered person, was as angry as he ever gets. “From looking at the scorecard, after Kardyni comes back from vacation in Chechnya, he should be suspended,” making a sarcastic point about the Polish judge being in the bag as Beterbiev is of Chechen heritage.

Beterbiev’s team stood squarely behind the outcome. Co-promoter Carl Moretti of Top Rank said, “It’s ok to have close fights either way, but it wasn’t a robbery. Look at Artur’s face, and look at Bivol’s face. Something was hitting him. It wasn’t a ghost.”

READ MORE: Riyadh Season Undercard: Wardley Stops Clarke in One Round

Will a Beterbiev vs Bivol rematch happen?

As it often happens when great undefeated champions meet, you can celebrate with the winner and still feel the devastation of the loser.

“To be in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, I never dreaming I have a fight here and become undisputed champion here. It’s like every day we’ve been here with our team, it’s best in the world. It’s not just words, it’s real. Really honored to become undisputed world champion here,” said Beterbiev.

“Right now, my plan is to go to my room, sit down, calm down a little bit, think about everything, take my notebook, and write down my plans for the future,” said Bivol.

As for a rematch, Bivol said, “I’m not ready to talk about that right now. We will see. Definitely, some things will be different.” But it seems likely, and if there is Saudi money for it, bet on it.

CompuBox stats for Beterbiev vs. Bivol.