Promoter Eddie Hearn was in denial after seeing his fighter, WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), get beaten by IBF, WBC and WBO champion Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) by a 12. round majority decision on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Bivol gave his chances to win to run from rounds 4 to 12. Beterbiev made the fight, being the aggressor, showing that he wanted more.
If it wasn’t for Beterbiev getting close, the fight would look like an amateur contest because that’s the approach Bivol used. He wasn’t fighting pro style, and the judges couldn’t give him the decision to not sit on his punches like Beterbiev was.
Judges’ scores:
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
I watched the fight, and I scored it 9-3 for Beterbiev, considering he landed the hardest shots in every round and was on the attack. Bivol was just tapping, moving, pushing and holding.
If Hearn wants to blame anyone, he needs to direct his anger at Bivol for not fighting with aggression and letting Beterbiev dominate the entire second half of the fight. Bivol was MIA, missing in action in the last three rounds, 10, 11 and 12. Once he felt the power of Beterbiev, Bivol wanted nothing to do with the fight. He was on the move, making sure he wasn’t illuminated by Beterbiev, which happens every time he stops.
It didn’t look like Beterbiev was throwing hard, but his punches would have an impressive impact. Bivol’s head was shaken by the blows.
Hearn was upset to see Bivol lose because he needed the win to get the mega-millions from a rematch against Canelo Alvarez. Losing to Beterbiev removed the possibility of a second fight against the Mexican star, leaving Bivol in a situation where Hearn needs his excellent Turki Alalshikh to set up a rematch with Beterbiev.
Bivol did absolutely nothing for the last seven rounds of the fight after being hit hard by a volley of punches from Beterbiev in the sixth. He angered Beterbiev by unleashing a flurry of shots on him in that round. After that sequence, it was all downhill for Bivol because of Beterbiev.
“It’s a joke. They (Beterbiev’s trainers) knew in the 10th round. They said, ‘You’re going to have to hit him to win this fight,'” Eddie Hearn said Fight Hub TVreacts to the loss of his fighter Dmitry Bivol to Artur Beterbiev. “They are all standing in the corner; the fight is over. They are in Bivol’s corner, and they (Beterbiev’s trainers) are looking around like this (frown).
“How can you score that fight 8-4 to Artur Beterbiev? Unbelievable. Terrible decision. I hope His Excellency will do the decent thing and give Bivol a rematch. It was a masterclass performance in an incredible fight. I don’t want to disrespect Artur Beterbiev because he’s an incredible champion, but he didn’t win that fight. Dmitry Bivol won this fight,” Hearn said.
