Dmitry Bivol edges Artur Beterbiev to win undisputed championship in rematch

Dmitry Bivol took a majority decision over Artur Beterbiev in a second excellent fight between the two.

Dmitry Bivol rallied to pull out a majority decision win over Artur Beterbiev in today’s rematch, claiming the undisputed light heavyweight championship of the world.

Judges had the fight 114-114, 115-113, and 116-112, the latter two cards both in favor of Bivol, who avenged his narrow loss to Beterbiev last year and very likely set up a third bout between the two greats.

Just like last year, we saw an excellent, high-level fight of craft, skill, and adjustment, and this time Bivol (24-1, 12 KO) did just enough to get the nod in his direction, but Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KO) was once again terrific himself, and the two made for another excellent matchup.

Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112, both cards for Bivol.

This time around, it was Beterbiev starting faster, pouring on some strong pressure, but Bivol was able to make small but significant adjustments in the middle rounds, and then hold off a surging Beterbiev just enough late in the fight, all of which took a lot of doing, as will happen when you pair two sincerely elite fighters.

“I’m just so happy,” Bivol said. “I lost (last year) and I felt (preparation was) a little bit easier, maybe. I didn’t press too much this time like before the last fight, and I just wanted to work from the first round until the end of the 12th.”

“The difference between the last fight and this one is just me,” Bivol added. “I was better and pushing myself more. I was more confident, I was lighter. I just wanted to win so much.”

Asked about having to make adjustments during the fight, Bivol said, “I just told myself, ‘He could start from the beginning to destroy me,’ but it’s hard, to be honest, to keep him at distance. But then I saw he was tired — I’m tired, but he’s tired, also. I have to be smarter and land more clean punches.”

“This is tough. My congratulations to Bivol and his team,” Beterbiev said. “I think this fight was better than the first fight, but now’s my time to come back.”

Asked about a third fight, Beterbiev said he didn’t really want the rematch, but that it wasn’t his choice, adding, “We’re going to do a third fight if we need to.”