Promoter Eddie Hearn failed after watching his fight, WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), defeated by IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) by 12. majority decision on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Bivol gave up his chances of winning by running from the 4th to the 12th round. Beterbiev made the fight, as a striker, showing that he wanted it very much.
If it wasn’t for Beterbiev coming forward, the fight would have been like a novice tournament because that’s the way Bivol uses it. He wasn’t fighting in a professional style, and the judges couldn’t give him a decision because he wasn’t sitting down on his punches the way Beterbiev was.
Judges’ scores:
– 114-114
– 115-113
– 116-112
I watched this fight, and I scored 9-3 Beterbiev, considering that he was landing hard shots in every round and was attacking. Bivol was just screaming, moving, shoving, and grabbing.
If Hearn wants to blame anyone, he needs to direct his anger at Bivol because he didn’t fight aggressively and let Beterbiev dominate the entire second half of the fight. Bivol was MIA, out of action for the last three rounds, 10, 11 and 12. Sensing Beterbiev’s strength, Bivol wanted nothing to do with fighting. He was walking, making sure not to be flashed by Beterbiev, which happened every time he stopped.
It didn’t look like Beterbiev was throwing hard, but his punches would have had an impressive impact. Bivol’s head was shaking from being shot.
Hearn was very salty to see Bivol lose because he needed a win to earn mega-millions in a rematch with Canelo Alvarez. The loss to Beterbiev extinguished the possibility of a second fight against the Mexican star, leaving Bivol in a situation where Hearn needs the Honorable Turki Alalshikh to arrange a rematch with Beterbiev.
Bivol went blank in the final seven rounds of the fight after being hit hard by Beterbiev’s punches in the sixth. He angered Beterbiev by unleashing a flurry of shots on him in that round. After that series, it was all downhill for Bivol because of Beterbiev.
“It’s a joke. See [Beterbiev’s coaches] he knew about the tenth round. They said, ‘You have to knock him out to win this fight,’” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, reacting to his champion Dmitry Bivol’s loss to Artur Beterbiev. “I’m all standing in the corner; the war is over. I’m in Bivol’s corner, and there they are [Beterbiev’s trainers] looking around like this [frowning].
How would you beat that 8-4 fight to Artur Beterbiev? It’s unbelievable. Bad decision. I hope His Majesty will do the honorable thing and give Bivol a second chance. It was a great match in an amazing fight. I don’t want to disrespect Artur Beterbiev because he is an amazing champion, but he didn’t win that fight. “Dmitry Bivol won that fight,” said Hearn.
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