Four months after fading during the championship rounds and losing his undisputed light heavyweight title clash against Artur Beterbiev via disputed decision, Dmitry Bivol said all throughout fight week that he just needed to do more.
On Saturday, inside The Venue Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) did exactly that and it was just barely enough to flip the decision in his favor after 12 more tense, tactical and fast-paced rounds. Bivol scored a majority decision via judges’ scores of 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113 over Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs). CBS Sports also scored the fight 115-113 for Bivol.
Bivol, 34, avenged his lone defeat and regained the WBA title he first captured in 2017, along with the WBC, WBO and IBF straps from Beterbiev. And he did so surviving a furious mid-round surge from Beterbiev before standing firm and taking the fight to his 40-year-old opponent over the second half.
The judges’ scores turned out to be the same as the first fight, only inverted in favor of Bivol, who outlanded Beterbiev by a margin of 170 to 121, according to CompuBox. Bivol, a native of Kyrgyzstan, also connected just shy of 40% of his power shots as he landed the cleaner punches overall in this battle of stiff jabs, defense and constant adjustments.
“I went through a lot these last years, thank you everybody so much,” Bivol said. “To be honest, I lost [the first fight] and I felt a little bit easier, maybe. I didn’t [put] pressure too much [on myself] this time like before last fight and I just wanted to work from the first round until the end of the 12th. I hoped I had done enough and now I have these belts.”
Bivol not only didn’t fade late in the rematch, he was the fresher fighter throughout most of the second half as he outlanded Beterbiev, a native of Russia who fights out of Montreal, in five of the last six rounds. Bivol countered beautifully with combinations and stepped up his defense to slow Beterbiev’s aggressive attack to the body.
The 170 punches landed by Bivol were the most of any Beterbiev opponent to date. Bivol, who snapped Beterbiev’s career-long knockout streak in their first meeting, also upped his output by 11 punches per round compared to their first meeting.
“[The difference in the rematch was] just me, I was better, I was pushing myself more,” Bivol said. “I was more confident, I was lighter. I just wanted to win so much today.”
Beterbiev finished the fight with swelling around both eyes and a road map of red blemishes on his forehead. He did, however, rally late in Round 12 to open a cut on Bivol’s left eye after the both connected on big right hands at the same time.
“I don’t want to talk about the decision this time,” Beterbiev said. “I can only congratulate Bivol and his team.”
Bivol got off to a quick start behind his jab in the opening three rounds against the notoriously slow-starting Beterbiev. But the defending champion stepped on the gas considerably between Round 4-6 and was simply all over Bivol with combinations to the body and constant flurrying to cut off the ring.
“I just told myself he could start from the beginning to disturb me,” Bivol said. “It was hard, to be honest, to keep him on the distance for the first four rounds and then I saw that he was tired. I was tired but so was he, so I knew I had to be smarter with clean punches, only. I did it.”
The Bivol victory sets up an obvious trilogy bout as Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s general entertainment authority who oversees the nation’s recent takeover of boxing, was seen ringside throwing up three fingers in the direction of Beterbiev to signify the need for a third fight.
“Now, it’s my time to come back,” Beterbiev said. “Actually, I didn’t want second fight, too. It wasn’t my choosing but no problem. We are going to do third fight, maybe.”
Bivol said he is open to a trilogy but needs time to recover from enduring 24 rounds against Beterbiev in just 112 days.
“I’m ready for any challenge in the future but I want a little bit rest because I have some injuries in the summer and this time, I had injuries and was using anti-inflammation almost all camp,” Bivol said. “I want a little bit to heal myself and come back.”
Elsewhere on the card, Joseph Parker handled his business against Martin Bakole at heavyweight. Bakole was filling in for Daniel Dubois on roughly 48 hours’ notice after Dubois fell ill. Parker scored a second-round TKO after delivering a solid shot to Bakole’s equilibrium and Bakole’s corner waived off the referee. Plus, Shakur Stevenson did the same in defending his WBC lightweight title against Josh Padley, who was filling in for a sick Floyd Schofield Jr. Stevenson, despite appearing to suffer a hand injury midway through the fight, managed to stop his durable opponent in the ninth round. Carlos Adames and Vergil Ortiz Jr. also picked up big wins in step-up fights.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with the live results and highlights below.
Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 fight card, results
- Dmitry Bivol def. Artur Beterbiev (c) via majority decision (114-114, 116-112, 115-113)
- Joseph Parker def. Martin Bakole via second-round TKO
- Shakur Stevenson (c) def. Josh Padley via ninth-round TKO
- Carlos Adames (c) vs. Hamzah Sheeraz ends in a split draw (114-115, 118-110, 114-114)
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. (c) def. Israil Madrimov via unanimous decision (117-11, 115-113, 115-113)
- Agit Kabayel def. Zhilei Zhang via sixth-round TKO
- Callum Smith def. Joshua Buatsi via unanimous decision (119-110, 115-113, 116-112)
Beterbiev vs. Bivol scorecard, live coverage
| Beterbiev (c) | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 113 |
| Bivol | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 115 |
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