A bitter Eddie Hearn is insisting there should be a rematch between his fighter Dmitry Bivol and undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev after their bout last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Bivol getting an immediate rematch works for Hearn as his fighter gets a second chance, but it doesn’t work for fans. Bivol, the former WBA champion, made the fight boring with his movement, and he has already said he plans to use even more in the rematch.
Beterbiev has far more exciting fight options than rematching Bivol, who has already said he plans to turn the rematch into another track event. In this modern era of boxing, fans want to be entertained, and Bivol fails to do that with his archaic, safety-first approach.
To provide value for the fans, Beterbeiv needs to focus on fighting exciting fighters who actually come to fight. Bivol doesn’t, and he never has. Beterbiev should focus on fighting one of the Big Four:
- David Benavidez
- Canelo Alvarez
- David Morrell
- Joshua Butter
Bivol to use more movement in rematch
The Hearn-promoted Bivol has already let fans know how the rematch will go by saying he thinks he should have used more movement to stop Beterbiev hitting him.
Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) squared off with triple-belt unified 175-lb champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) boring to watch for fans by choosing not to get involved and to move the ring for 12 boring rounds.
Most would agree that the fight did not live up to expectations, and Beterbiev was not to blame. Bivol’s Shakur-esque fighting style made it extremely boring to watch, and it wasn’t entertaining.
Hearn feels that his fighter, former WBA 175-lb champion Bivol, was given the shaft by the judges and should have won. The judges felt that Beterbiev was the one who did the better job with his power shots and the pressure he applied in the last half.
The scores
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
“To find a judge who scored that fight 116-112 and gave Dmitry Bivol four rounds in that fight, this judge should never work this fight again,” said Eddie Hearn. talkSport Boxingcomplains about the judge who scored it 8-4 in Artur Beterbiev’s favor against Dmitri Bivol. “There has to be a rematch because there’s always going to be the controversy about that fight.”
