RIAD —
Artur Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol by split decision to become the first undisputed light heavyweight champion in more than 20 years.
Beterbiev, 39, 21-0, had won his previous 20 fights by knockout. However, his Russian compatriot forced him to fight the 12 rounds in Riyadh during the early hours of Sunday, in a fight in which each opponent had moments of dominance and which in the end could well have been tied.
“I don’t feel bad,” Beterbiev told DAZN after the fight. “I wanted to box with more quality. I will improve one day. It was a little awkward. Of course, it was a difficult fight, because Dmitry is a tough champion and has great talent, more than me.”
There were not too many emotions in the fight between the two most dominant exponents in the division. Bivol (23-1 with 12 knockouts) used his speed to land blows at the beginning of the fight. Beterbiev grew in the middle rounds, before a barrage of punches near the end seemingly tipped the fight in his favor.
In the end, two judges scored it 115-113, 116-112 for Beterbiev, and the third gave a 114-114 tie.
“I am a warrior. I have no explanation, because it would seem like a pretext,” said Bivol. “I don’t know. I did my job but I feel like I could have done it better. But that was the opinion of the judges. Congratulations to Artur, he is powerful”
It was the first unified title fight in the division since 2002 and was the first time all four major world titles (WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC) were on the line in the four-belt era.
Now they all belong to Beterbiev.
