Artur Beterbiev “bullied” Dmitri Bivol, says Gareth A Davies

Gareth A. Davies saw unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev “bully” Dmitry Bivol during portions of the later rounds to claim victory by a 12-round majority decision last Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

Where Bivol made a huge mistake by playing it safe in the 12th round, moving and holding Beterbiev, Dmitri acted as if he already had the win in the bag and wanted to coast to ensure he wasn’t knocked out not. In hindsight, this was a huge mistake.

Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) says he wasn’t tired in the last three rounds from the 10th, but instead tried to be “perfect” as he was relentlessly pounded by Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) is. What Bivol means by “perfect” can be translated as evasive to escape the bombardment. He tried to neutralize Beterbiev’s offense but forgot that he needed to engage to win the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds.

Bivol fell back under fire, and didn’t throw back much in the last three rounds, getting the stuffing knocked out of him by Beterbiev. Pro-Bivol fans claim that he blocked Beterbiev’s shots and made his misses. That is not what happened. He was hit hard by Beterbiev and seemed to be trying to save his skin.

“I had Beterbiev win the second half of the fight, apart from the ninth round. Bivol probably (wins) the first four, but the fourth round was a bit of a toss. I had Beterbiev commanding the other rounds,” said Gareth A. Davies Pro Boxing Fansoutlines his analysis of the results of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitri Bivol fight.

“There were some swing rounds in that seven that I gave to Beterbiev, but I gave that seven to him. His aggressive ring generalship, his tenacity, and the fact that Bivol was quite on the back foot. I watched it again this morning and I gave the fourth round to Bivol.

“I scored it 7-5 after watching it closely. I just think Beterbiev did the more stubborn, aggressive work. It was a very close battle. I won’t argue with a tie in those swing rounds. I liked what I saw of him. I thought he bullied Bivol at times. I don’t think everyone agrees with that,” Gareth said.

Beterbiev did more than bully Bivol during the backlash of the fights. He beat him with his non-stop power thrusts, making him look bad in the process.