The judges preferred Artur Beterbiev’s aggression to the movement and half-hearted punches thrown by Dmitri Bivol in their undisputed light heavyweight championship fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night. Bivol was impressive, but he couldn’t throw power punches like Beterbiev did. He threw lighter punches and then moved away.
Even when Bivol rushed Beterbiev in the seventh round, the punches were weak, which is why Artur was able to come right back to dominate the rest of that round. The crowd got excited and thought Bivol was going to knock Beterbiev out with his flurry, but the shots had nothing on them. Beterbiev came back in the round to nail Bivol with bouncing head shots to overtake him.
The judges gave it to the more aggressive fighter, Beterbiev, with scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112. When the fight was on the line in the final four rounds, Bivol chose to move. When judges saw that Beterbiev was the one pushing the fight, they felt he deserved to win the rounds in the crucial part of the fight in the latter half.
If this were a dance contest, WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) would have won because he used his fancy footwork to escape the powerful punches of IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0). 20 KOs) all night.
The movement that Bivol used in the second half of the fight is what sank his ship. He threw one to two shots and then moved. He wouldn’t stay in the trenches to fight Beterbiev hand-to-hand or with his E-tool like he needs to
Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, called it a “robbery,” but it was stupid. Beterbiev did more, especially in the last three rounds. How could he be so wrong? Bivol didn’t do enough to win.
“I couldn’t find anyone who won the fight Artur Beterbiev. How can you give Dmitri Bivol only four rounds? It was an absolute master class,” Eddie Hearn told the stomping grounds, sounds displeased with his fighter Dmitri Bivol losing to Artur Beterbiev.
It was not a master class from Bivol. It was a blow by him because he didn’t fight hard in the important rounds. He moved well, but he didn’t fight Beterbiev. There is a difference. What makes Beterbiev’s win even more special is his age and the fact that he suffered a blown meniscus knee injury last May. Beterbiev turns 40 on January 21, but he still showed more aggression and ambition than the 33-year-old Bivol.
“No disrespect to Artur Beterbiev. He is a tremendous fighter. He didn’t win that battle. After the tenth round you heard him say to him, ‘You must knock him out to win the fight.’ We got in the ring after the fight, and Top Rank and everyone in the corner knew they lost the fight.
“Nobody even said to me (from Bivol’s team): ‘Do we have it?’ It was just, ‘We did it.’ That judge should never work again. Four rounds of a fight of this magnitude,” Hearn said of the judge scoring it 116-112 (8-4) for Beterbiev.
“I am so disappointed for Dmitri Bivol. He should be the undisputed champion tonight. Some people had it 8-2 after 10. I’m just stunned. Dmitry Bivol is such a nice guy. I think he was robbed. A lifetime of hard work to make it tonight. You see controversial decisions all the time, but to see it in a fight of this magnitude is so disappointing,” Hearn said.
Bivol must learn from his loss and fight harder next time. The judges aren’t going to automatically give him a win if he’s on his bike trying to escape pressure from a fighter like Beterbiev. It looked so bad. With the fight on the line in rounds six through twelve, Bivol moved and tried to escape the heavy shots.
