Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. OCT 12: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight night for the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Championships, IV Crown Showdown, Riyadh Season. 12 October 2024. Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Queensberry Promotions. Credit: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions
Dmitrii Bivol wants to bring it back together with Artur Beterbiev and is looking for as much support as possible to make it happen.
The Ring confirmed that Bivol’s team submitted a request for an immediate rematch with all four sanctioning bodies. The basis for the appeal is the majority belief that the previously long-reigning WBA light heavyweight titleholder deserved the nod in their RING/undisputed championship Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 knockouts) won their fight by majority decision. The unofficial view among most observers was that Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) had done enough to fully unify the division. However, he could not win on any of the three official scorecards—114-114 draw, 115-113 and 116-112 for Beterbiev.
With the victory, Beterbiev was crowned RING and WBA champion. He retained his lineal, WBC, IBF and WBO crowns. In all, he gained recognition as the sport’s first undisputed light heavyweight champion since Roy Jones abdicated the throne in 2002.
Among those who saw Bivol prevail was event organizer Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
“It was one of the great fights of the last 20 years, I think,” Alalshikh said The Stomping Grounds’ Charlie Parsons. “But I don’t think the result was fair in my opinion. The two fighters are like my brothers, but I think Bivol won two more rounds.
“I will focus and I will try to do the rematch. If they accept, we will do it.”
Bivol’s side took the additional step of securing larger reinforcements. His legal team contacted the heads of all four sanctions bodies, according to a letter sent by The Ring.
“Due to the fact that this fight was quite controversial, we proceeded with a re-application and protest against the decision with all the sanctioning bodies,” Vadim Kornilov, Bivol’s career-long manager, told The Ring in a provided quote. “And we are still working on the possibility of a review of the 116-112 scorecard.”
The latter part refers to judge Pawel Kardyni, whose 116-112 card was the outlier of public opinion. Kornilov called for a thorough review of his scorecard, although such matters are often handled at the sanctions bodies’ desired (deliberate) pace.
The legal team for Bivol was also involved in a much more controversial decision more than 25 years ago – and reached agreements.
The almost universal take was that Lennox Lewis did more than enough to defeat Evander Holyfield in their undisputed heavyweight championship in March 1999. The towering Briton was forced to settle for an unpopular split decision draw at Madison Square Garden in New York.
This produced the unanimous verdict among all involved—including the sanctioning bodies—that a rematch should take place next. This was the exact course of action, where Lewis assaulted Holyfield in Las Vegas eight months later.
“The outcome of that fight was one of the most controversial in history, with a highly contested draw,” argued attorney Patrick English, who represents all of Kornilov’s clients and is also the longtime attorney for Main Events. “Boxing fans demanded a rematch. The fighters wanted a rematch. I have filed an appropriate petition with the rating organizations for a rematch.
“Today I am making this petition on behalf of Dmitrii Bivol. The circumstances are similar to Holyfield /Lewis. Dmitrii Bivol, then the WBA champion, fought Artur Beterbiev last Saturday night. Bivol held the WBA and IBO Light Heavyweight titles while Beterbiev held the IBF, WBC and WBO titles. The result was a hotly contested majority decision that saw Beterbiev on the
maps. To say that the decision was hotly contested is an understatement.”
The complaint included several press clippings from publications that Bivol fronted. It also cited the public statements made by promoters Eddie Hearn (Bivol’s promoter) and Frank Warren, who believed Bivol had won. Hearn took it a step further and stated that everything Bivol had worked for as a titleholder for seven years had been ripped away from him by being ruled ineligible.
A poll conducted by The Ring was not quite so conclusive.
Bivol was considered the winner by nine of the 21 industry insiders and experts. Five felt that Beterbiev had won, while another seven were either tied or “undecided”.
The combined results of a points poll conducted by Boxing News+ — led by Rob Tebbutt, the sport’s leading fight night pizza expert — had it 115-113 Beterbiev.
Nevertheless, Bivol and his team roll with the majority opinion as well as the powers that be to force a rematch.
“Mr. Bivol has requested a rematch,” Bivol’s legal team insisted. “The promoters of the match, Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren and Turki Alalshikh said they thought a rematch was warranted.
“Mr. Beterbiev stated that if the promoters wanted a rematch, he agreed to do it.
Bivol has held the full version of the WBA light heavyweight title since November 2017. He made eleven successful defenses of the belt and was named 2022 Fighter of the Year.
His reign was one week longer than Beterbiev’s IBF title win at the time of their light heavyweight summit. After Saturday’s result, Beterbiev is second only to Knockout CP Freshmart as the sport’s longest reigning active male titleholder. Freshmart (25-0, 9 KOs) has held the WBA strawweight title since June 2016.
