Dmitry Bivol says he could feel Artur Beterbiev’s power through his right hand as he tried to protect his head on Saturday night in Riyadh. Beterbiev’s hard punches led him to a 12-round majority decision victory in their battle for the undisputed light heavyweight championship at the Kingdom Arena.
The beaten former WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) states that Beterbiev’s shots drove his right hand into his head. Even though Bivol was blocking the shots, the concussion went through his hand into his head and did the damage.
Bivol even fought well to win three of the first six rounds, but Beterbiev turned his offense on its head in the seventh round, landing big shots in the final 30 seconds that turned the match around. It was essentially all Beterbiev in the last six rounds of the fight.
The judges’ scores
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
I also had it 8-4 for Beterbiev based on him cleaning up the second half of the game with his pressure. Bivol reacted to Beterbiev’s powerful punches the same way he had in his match against Lyndon Arthur last December.
When Bivol was hurt by a body shot from Lyndon, he stopped fighting aggressively and played it safe for the entire second part of the fight. We saw the same last night when Bivol became very defensive after Beterbiev began to besiege his castle. He had no intention of defending his WBA belt and surrendered it to his enemy. In other words, Bivol mentally quit when the going got tough. Beterbiev’s strength scared him and took the fight out of him.
Bivol’s body language showed that he was afraid to open up about his transgression. It was like a person dealing with a bad experience and not wanting to go back to the same environment where they suffered the trauma.
Of course, Bivol’s fans and his team still believe he deserved the win, but the reality is that he was outmatched and had the fight knocked out of him by IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev.
“I have no excuses. I don’t have my belt. I didn’t win the fight. I just want the rematch. I want to get another chance if possible. I can be better, I know,” Dmitry Bivol told BoxNation in response to his loss to Artur Beterbiev. “I could have won this battle, but I didn’t. I’m not happy with my performance because I don’t have my belts.”
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he wants to set up a rematch between Beterbiev and Bivol for 2025. Whether it will benefit Dmitri Bivol is unknown. He will make a lot of money in a second fight, but it is doubtful that he will be able to avenge his loss.
If anything, Beterbiev will improve in the second fight as he knows how to beat Bivol with pressure and will pick up where he left off by taking the fight to him from the start.
“He has very strong beats. (I felt) his right hand though my left hand. My thumb was swollen from holding it on my head, and he hit my hand. I felt as if my hand was coming from the force in my head.”
Interestingly, Beterbiev’s short punches looked as if they were thrown as effortlessly as if he wasn’t trying to charge at them, but the impact on Bivol’s head and gloves was harsh. You could hear the force of the blows, and Bivol’s head was whipping even as he blocked the punches.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE UNMARKED CAMP @ABETERBIEV? 😤 pic.twitter.com/LFAzEfEPkT
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) 13 October 2024
