Dmitry Bivol’s management will file an official protest over his 12-round majority decision loss to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday night. Former WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, plans to protest the score of 116-112 from one of the judges, even though many fans also had that score.
Team Bivol’s choice to muddy the waters will not change the outcome of the fight. Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) was the better man, the aggressor in the second half of the fight, landed the better shots, and had Bivol at bay during the championship rounds.
When the fight was on the line in rounds 9 through 12, Bivol was on his biketrying to escape the pressure of Beterbiev. The judge who scored the fight 116-112 clearly noted that Beterbiev was in control during the crucial final decisive championship rounds.
“We are going to file a protest on Monday. I think the judge should at least have some responsibility for what he did,” Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, told BoxNation.
The reason Bivol lost was not the judge, who had it 8-4 for Beterbiev. He didn’t fight hard when he felt Beterbiev’s power in the seventh and was on the retreat from that round. Whatever fight Bivol had in him was taken out after he was hit with a flurry of shots in the seventh. You could see it. This helped mute the DAZN commentary team.
Beterbiev unloaded bombs on Bivol, and after that seventh round it was one-sided in Artur’s favor. Bivol is one of those fighters who loses his temper after being hit hard and doesn’t want to take any additional risks. We saw it in his fights against Canelo Alvarez, Joe Smith and Lyndon Arthur. When Bivol is buzzed, he changes his style and goes into safety-first mode.
“Bivol controlled the fight. Listen, he was buzzing in battle. He buzzed Artur Beterbiev,” said Eddie Hearn BoxNationgrumbling about his fighter Dmitri Bivol’s loss to Artur Beterbiev last Saturday night.
“It was a lifetime’s work where he should have walked out of the ring as the undisputed world champion. His Excellency (Turki Alalshikh) said: ‘Wrong decision, I will do a rematch.’ We should have had an undisputed champion there.”
Hearn may regret sending Bivol into a rematch with Beterbiev, as he will likely be knocked out in the second fight. Once Bivol loses the rematch, his value to Hearn and his Matchroom company will be worthless. Hearn would be better off fighting for the Bivol and Canelo Alvarez rematch. This is the one he should focus on. If Hearn can convince Turki to help him persuade Canelo to fight Bivol again, there’s a lot of money to be made in the second fight. That’s what I wouldn’t do.
A blind man could see that Beterbiev had Bivol figured out and would destroy him in the rematch. Beterbiev figured out Bivol’s game and will break him with pressure the second time.
