Artur Beterbiev was crowned the undisputed light heavyweight champion at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After 12 tightly contested rounds it was Beterbiev getting the nod over Dmitry Bivol by the scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
With the victory, Beterbiev added the WBA belt to his collection, to go along with his WBC, WBO and IBF straps.
There is some dispute over this verdict. There are more than a few of you out there who believed that it was Bivol who deserved to have his hand raised in victory. And there is a sizable contingent of observers who had this fight dead even. But it says here that it was Beterbiev who closed harder down the stretch. My scorecard had it 115-113 Beterbiev.
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Close fight that could've gone either way? Yeah.
But a robbery?
No.
Some preferred the disciplined boxing of Bivol. While others favored the steady pressure and heavy hands of Beterbiev. This is the type of contest where if you watched a few times, you may not only change your mind on how you scored several rounds, but who actually won the fight. It was that type of bout.
I've had people on X tell me that it reminded them a bit of other fights that had controversial decisions. Namely Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler and Felix Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya. Beterbiev-Bivol didn't have nearly the ebbs and flows of Leonard-Hagler, but the way Bivol fought the last few rounds on Saturday was a bit reminiscent of 'the Golden Boy' versus Trinidad.
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This wasn't the type of fight that you will watch over and over again. It really didn't provide that much sustained action, but it was one filled with tension and a high degree of skill and strategy which should be appreciated.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) said of this ordeal, "I feel not bad. I did not good today. I wanted to box today with more quality. I don't know why, but I didn't like this fight. But I'll be better one day. Of course, it's a tough fight because Dmitry is a world champion, too. He has good skills, maybe better than me. But today, Allah chose me. You know, during the fight, we always try to change something. But, you know, maybe I just wanted to punch him. Maybe that's why I'm not delivering more punches. I don't know."
It was interesting to not that Turki Alalshikh seemed to think that Bivol won the fight. Which is probably a small consolation to Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) who suffered his first professional loss.
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“I am a warrior. I have to do everything perfect. And I don't have any explanation because it could look like excuses. I just congratulate Artur and his team. He deserves it. No problem. I just have time to make another decision for my future. That's it," said Bivol. “I don't know. I just did my job. I felt that I could have done better. I always could be better. It's just the opinion of the judges. Congratulations, Artur. I didn't see the fight. He won. What can I say?"
This debate will rage for a while -- well, at least till the next close fight -- but if neither has better options, maybe a rematch is in order.
"If His Excellency wants it {a rematch}, then we can do it," said the king of 175.
DAZN AND CONFUSED
There was a bit of an uproar on social media leading into Beterbiev-Bivol (which was streamed on ESPN+) as the undercard was made into a pay-per-view by DAZN, after originally being announced as being part of their subscription.
Dan Rafael was not having it.
DAZN, I mean, Dan has a point. It's not even about the price, but really the principle of the matter. It's not even that they made this undercard a pay-per-view, but the manner in which they did so. After this latest snafu more than a few fans have messaged me stating that this is their last straw with them.
They came out in 2018 with a relatively low subscription rate and announced that pay-per-view was a thing of the past. Now, fast-forward to 2024 and a yearly subscription is over $300 (and yes, I have a yearly sub) and they are absolutely in the pay-per-view business -- even for undercards.
Quite frankly, they deserve all the heat they are getting for this.
