By: Sean Crose
And then there was one. After presenting an absolutely terrific card on Saturday, Saudi sports honcho Turki Al-Sheikh gave fans a main event between two future Hall of Famers who were playing back their first razor sharp twelve round affair the previous year. After winning their first throwdown back in October, Artur Beterbiev, the undefeated, undisputed 21-0 light heavyweight champion of the world, slipped in between the ropes on Saturday to take on his equal, and arch nemesis, the 23-1 Dmitry Bivol. The fight was scheduled for 12 championship rounds.
The first saw each fighter being tentative – and rightfully so. Bivol put his jab to good use while Beterbiev began applying pressure. Bivol went on to fire quick shots in the second. Beterbiev, ever patient, pushed forward behind a jab of his own. Beterbiev immediately turned up the pressure at the start of the third. Bivol, however, was throwing and landing. Beterbiev threw hard in the fourth, while Bivol’s output declined. Beterbiev continued to push the action and hit hard in the fifth. Indeed, by round’s end it looked like Bivol might be starting to break down.
The sixth saw Bivol coming alive at the end and fighting successfully, though Beterbiev may have hurt him seconds before the bell. Bivol simply didn’t look particularly sharp in the seventh. The pace was slowing, but Beterbiev was clearly the more active of the two fighters. Bivol was able to land clean and hard on Beterbiev in the eighth. He was also able to throw in combinations. Bivol continued to look rejuvenated in the ninth as he fired lightning fast combinations at Beterbiev.
Beterbiev attempted to be aggressive again in the tenth, but Bivol’s combinations, reminiscent of Ray Leonard’s, ended up telling the tale of the round. The eleventh was close, but Bivol looked so fluid when he had his dominant moments, that those moments might have come across as being more impressive than Beterbiev’s. The twelfth and final round was as impressive as the rest of the fight, though Beterbiev appeared to outfight his man in the final round.
It was all up to the judges…who ruled in favor of Bivol by scores of 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113.
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