His Excellency Turki Alalshikh does not agree with the decision that the three judges made for the fight Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night, and wants to put together a rematch between them if they agree.
Turki thought WBA lightweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) deserved the win over a couple of rounds. Bivol stopped fighting in rounds 10, 11 and 12. That was the difference in the contest. Beterbiev wanted more in the stretch, and the judges noticed.
A rematch would probably be worse for Bivol because Beterbiev will have more time to rehabilitate his recently surgically operated right knee, and he learned from this fight.
What Beterbiev showed was that Bivol caved under his pressure in the last half of the fight, giving in and having nothing to fight for due to his lack of power. In the rematch, Beterbiev will push the pace of the fight right off the bat and wear Bivol faster.
Beterbiev will likely agree to the rematch because his options for big fights are limited. His purse for his fight tonight was rumored to be $10 million. If he can get similar money in a rematch with Bivol, he’ll take it.
The judges gave it to the champion of the IBF, WBC and WBO Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) by a majority decision of 12 rounds by the scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 .
It’s easy to see why. Beterbiev was the aggressor throughout the fight, landed the hardest shots, and looked like he wanted more down the stretch in rounds 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. The last six rounds were all Beterbiev.
Bivol used his jab, short combinations, and footwork to win some of the rounds in the first half of the fight. Beterbiev was too cautious in rounds one to six to win more than three. Some fans felt that Bivol won five of the first six rounds, but that would have ignored a lot of the hard shots that Beterbiev was landing to get the better of him.
“It’s one of the biggest fights I’ve ever seen in the last 20 years, but I don’t think the result is fair,” said Turki Alalshikh. Stomping Groundtalking about Artur Beterbiev’s win over Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night.
The judges scored the fight logically. They felt Beterbiev landed the harder, cleaner shots and showed more initiative. Bivol pulled away entirely in rounds 7 through 12 when he started getting hit hard by Beterbiev. I’m not sure if that’s something Bivol can change in the rematch without getting kicked out.
“I think Bivol wins twice more. I don’t know why the result is like that, but I will try to make the rematch. They deserve it. If they accept, we will do it,” said Turki.
Bivol deserves a decision if he takes away the superior power and clean-landing shots that Beterbiev hit him with. If they both threw with the same power, Bivol deserved the win. But given that Beterbiev’s punches were much harder, he was the one pressing the action, and Bivol looked stressed, you have to give Artur the win. It was still a close fight, but Beterbiev did more.
“This is to His Excellency. He said: “Wrong decision. I will rematch,” said Eddie Hearn to by Charlie Parsons Stomping Grounds.
The judges made the right decision. What was wrong was Bivol’s game plan to move, jab, and hold. If he had tried to fight Beterbiev in the center of the ring, it might have been a different result. Instead, Bivol played it safe, hoping the judges would give him a win based on his minimalist approachand found out the hard way that they don’t value that style.
