A bitter Eddie Hearn insists there needs to be a rematch between his fighter Dmitry Bivol and undisputed lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev after their contest on Saturday night in Riyadh.
Bivol getting an immediate rematch works for Hearn as his fight gets a second chance, but it doesn’t work for the fans. Bivol, the former WBA champion, made the fight boring with his movement, and he has already said that he plans to use it even more in the rematch.
Beterbiev has many more exciting fight options than the new Bivol fight, who has already said that he plans to turn the rematch into another track match. In this modern era of boxing, fans want to be entertained, and Bivol fails to do that with his archaic, safety-first approach.
To provide value for the fans, Beterbeiv must focus on fighting exciting fighters who actually come to fight. Bivol doesn’t do that, and never will. Beterbiev should focus on fighting one of the Big Four:
- David Benavidez
- Canelo Alvarez
- David Morrell
- Joshua Butter
Bivol To Use More Movement In Rematch
The Hearn-promoted Bivol has already warned fans about how the rematch will play out saying he thinks he will have to use even more movement to stop Beterbiev from hitting.
Bivol (23-1, 12 KO) made the fight with three-belt unified champion 175-lb Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOI) boring to watch for the fans, choosing not to engage and moving around the ring for 12 tedious rounds.
Most agreed that the fight failed to live up to expectations, and Beterbiev was not to blame. Bivol’s Shakur-esque fighting style made him extremely tiresome to watch, and it wasn’t fun.
Hearn feels his fighter, former WBA 175-lb champion Bivol, was given the shaft by the judges and should have won. The judges thought that Beterbiev was the one who did the best job with his power shots and the pressure he applied in the last half.
The scores
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
“To find a judge who scored that fight 116-112 and gave Dmitry Bivol four rounds in that fight, this judge should never work this fight again,” said Eddie Hearn to talkSport Boxingcomplaining about the judge who scored 8-4 in favor of Artur Beterbiev against Dmitry Bivol. “There has to be a rematch because there will always be controversy over that fight.”
