Jake Paul is the hottest commodity in all of combat sports, and multiple stars are vying for the opportunity to do business with the YouTuber. After Paul…
Jake Paul is the hottest commodity in all of combat sports, and multiple stars are vying for the opportunity to do business with the YouTuber. After Paul…
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was flabbergasted by the scoring in Saturday night’s undisputed light heavyweight title clash between…
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was flabbergasted by the scoring in Saturday night’s undisputed light heavyweight title clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Over the weekend, Beterbiev and Bivol went toe-to-toe in one of the most anticipated boxing matches of the last decade. Luckily for fight fans, the bout lived up to the hype with both fighters slinging leather for much of the 12-round affair.
However, many were left frustrated by what is being called another controversial decision in the sport.
Speaking on the disputable decision immediately following the fight, Hearn vented his frustration over Beterbiev being handed the win.
“I don’t want to disrespect Beterbiev, because they’re both incredible fighters, but I find it sickening that, after a lifetime of hard work, Bivol is not undisputed champion tonight. He won that fight,” Hearn said during the post-fight press conference. “I struggle to find anybody in our row; a row behind, the TV row, who didn’t score the fight to Bivol. To find a judge give that fight 116-112, and give Dmitry Bivol four rounds in that fight; this judge should never work in the sport again.
“Everything you’ll get out of Dmitry is: ‘I can do better; it’s boxing. I take the judges’ scorecard’, but I don’t buy it because you don’t deserve that after that performance. It was an absolute boxing masterclass. It was the perfect performance. He can be better, but that was a pure show of concentration, skill, and defense, with offense thrown in. Bivol is arguably pound-for-pound No. 1 in the sport. He deserves tonight to sit here as the undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Status Reveal Just How Close the Beterbiev vs. Bivol Boxing Bout Truly Was
According to the official stats from Compubox, Beterbiev and Bivol were separated by four or fewer punches in eight out of the 12 rounds while Bivol out-landed Beterbiev by just five punches over the distance. Bivol connected with more jabs, landing 58 to Beterbiev’s 47, but Beterbiev connected on 14 more power punches with the totals being 90 to 84.
Beterbiev landed more shots in six rounds while Bivol won the numbers game in five of them. Both fighters landed nine punches apiece in the sixth round.
Whether you land on the side of Beterbiev or Bivol, most seem to agree that the 116-112 scorecard turned in by Pawel Kardyni was far too wide considering the close nature of the scrap.
With the fight being as tight as it was and the decision being highly debatable, do we see Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 in 2025?
In a matchup between two undefeated boxers for the world’s undisputed heavyweight championship, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev have…
In a matchup between two undefeated boxers for the world’s undisputed heavyweight championship, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev have provided the fans with what was seemingly 2024’s most hyped boxing match.
As always is the case with fights like these, one man had to get his undefeated streak snapped, and it happened to be Bivol on October 12th. Bivol was 23-0 and his opponent 20-0 entering the matchup. The world was on standby in anticipation of Beterbiev’s fearsome power rearing its head, but such a thing never came to fruition. The younger Bivol exercised his elusiveness and avoided suffering a knockout at the hands of his fellow Russian menace.
When it came time for the judges’ decision, though, things began to become controversial. Many people had Dmitry Bivol up on the scorecards and were very surprised when the fight was scored for Artur Beterbiev.
Dmitry Bivol speaks on Artur Beterbiev’s power, controversial decision
Bivol was interviewed by iFL TV after the fight, and was asked if Beterbiev’s infamous power was all that it was cracked up to be.
“It’s hard (the punching power), but not as [hard] as people are describing,” Bivol said. “Yeah, it’s hard, you see my eye. He landed a lot of punches on my left hand, through my hand. You see the bruises. He [hits] hard but we can handle these hard punches.”
Many also found the decision itself to be controversial, including Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn. He was extremely upset with Beterbiev getting the nod, and harshly criticized the judges.
“I don’t want to disrespect Artur Beterbiev and his team because they’re just incredible fighters,” Eddie Hearn began. But I find it sickening that after a lifetime of hard work Dmitry Bivol is not the undisputed champion tonight. He won that fight, I struggled to find anybody on our row, the row behind, the TV rows who didn’t score the fight for Dmitry Bivol. To find a judge who gave that fight 116-112, and give Dmitry four rounds in that fight, this judge should never work in the sport again.”
Do you think Dmitry Bivol should’ve left the ring victorious?
After a highly anticipated and closely contested battle, Artur Beterbiev can now call himself the one and only king of boxing’s light heavyweight division. Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion in the main event of a card held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 39-year-old retained the IBF, WBO, and WBC […]
After a highly anticipated and closely contested battle, Artur Beterbiev can now call himself the one and only king of boxing’s light heavyweight division.
Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion in the main event of a card held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 39-year-old retained the IBF, WBO, and WBC titles in this contest, in addition to capturing the WBA (Super) title held by Bivol.
With the win, Beterbiev has become the first undisputed light heavyweight champion since Roy Jones Jr. accomplished the feat in 2000 — and the first in the four-belt era.
Beterbiev and Bivol battered one another, with the two bringing war for the full 12 rounds that the fight lasted.
The latter got off to a strong start over the first couple of rounds before Beterbiev picked up the pace in the third frame and turned up the pressure more in the fourth. Beterbiev continued to land power shots in the fifth round, but Bivol defended well and responded with strong combinations in the sixth.
Both men appeared to do damage in the seventh round, with Bivol rocking Beterbiev early before Beterbiev pressured him before the round’s end. After a quieter eighth stanza, Bivol worked his counterpunching and defense well over the next two rounds. Beterbiev then brought back the pressure in the 11th before a close, competitive final round.
Beterbiev Captures Undisputed Light Heavyweight Title With Close, Controversial Decision Over Bivol
One judge scored the fight a draw 114-114. However, he was overruled by the other two judges with scores of 115-113 and 116-112 in Beterbiev’s favor.
This was the first time that Beterbiev did not score a KO or TKO in his professional career.
The Russian captured the IBF light heavyweight title with a KO of Enrico Kolling in November 2017. He won the WBC title by defeating Oleksandr Gvozdyk in October 2019 and the WBO title with a win over Joe Smith Jr. in June 2022.
Bivol, meanwhile, won the WBA (Regular) light heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Trent Boradhurst in November 2017. He was elevated to WBA (Super) champion in October 2019.
After going down early in the fight, Artur Beterbiev battled back against Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night and became…
After going down early in the fight, Artur Beterbiev battled back against Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night and became boxing’s undisputed light heavyweight world champion.
Squaring off inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Araba, Bivol got off to a quick start and appeared to take the first few rounds against the notoriously slow-starting Beterbiev. However, Beterbiev slowly turned it on in the later rounds as Bivol’s volume began to drop off.
Beterbiev’s constant pressure and threatening right hand had Bivol on his back foot for the majority of the fight no doubt played a role in Bivol’s depleting gas tank and the judges’ decision.
Official Result: Artur Beterbiev def. Dmitry Bivol via majority decision (114-114, 115-113, 116-112)
Check Out Highlights From Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev:
Artur Beterbiev has some seriously insane wrist strength. On October 12, the reigning IBF, WBC, and WBO light heavyweight…
Artur Beterbiev has some seriously insane wrist strength.
On October 12, the reigning IBF, WBC, and WBO light heavyweight world champion will attempt to unify his belts against current WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Beterbiev goes into the long-awaited clash boasting a perfect 20-0 record with a 100% finish rate.
During an open workout session on Wednesday, the Dagestani-born scrapper showed off some incredible strength in his wrists via a unique exercise in the middle of the ring.
Fans react to artur beterbiev’s crazy wrist exercise
Fight fans had a field day in the comments, marveling at Beterbiev’s strength and dexterity despite being 39 years old.
Like his opponent, Dmitry Bivol goes into this weekend’s showdown with an unbeaten record, going 23-0 with his most recent wins coming against the likes of Gilberto Ramírez, Lyndon Arthur, and Malik Zinad. Of course, Bivol’s biggest win came in May 2022 when he scored a unanimous decision W against multi-weight world champion Canelo Alvarez.
Bivol was originally expected to fight Beterbiev on June 1, but Beterbiev was forced to bow out of the bout after suffering a ruptured meniscus in training. Instead, Bivol went on to face Malik Zinad in Saudi Arabia. Bivol earned a sixth-round TKO.