Honorable Turki Alalshikh disagreed with the decision of three judges in the fight of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night, and wants to put together a rematch between them if they agree.
Turki felt that WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) deserved to win in a few rounds. Bivol stopped fighting in rounds 10, 11 and 12. That is the difference in the competition. Beterbiev went for it slowly, and the judges noticed.
A rematch could be bad for Bivol because Beterbiev will have more time to strengthen his newly operated right knee, and he will have learned from this fight.
It didn’t show Beterbiev that Bivol surrendered under his pressure in the last half of the fight, he retreated and had nothing to fight him due to lack of strength. In the rematch, Beterbiev will push the pace of the fight off the bat and take Bivol down quickly.
Beterbiev is likely to agree to a rematch because his options in big fights are limited. His purse for his fight tonight was rumored to be $10 million. If he can get the same money for a rematch with Bivol, he will take it.
The judges awarded IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) a 12-round majority decision with scores of 114-114, 115-113, and 116-112.
It’s easy to see why. Beterbiev was the bully during the fight, he fired hard, and it looked like he wanted this to happen in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th rounds. The last six rounds were all Beterbiev.
Bivol used his jab, short combinations, and footwork to win some rounds in the first half of the fight. Beterbiev was very careful in rounds one through six to win more than three. Some fans felt that Bivol won five of the first six rounds, but that would be ignoring the heavy shot that Beterbiev was sitting on to defeat him.
“It’s one of the biggest fights I’ve seen in the last 20 years, but I don’t think the result is right,” Turki Alalshikh said at Stomping Ground, referring to Artur Beterbiev’s victory over Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night.
The judges beat the fight in a logical way. They felt that Beterbiev hit harder, cleaner shots and showed more effort. Bivol was completely relaxed in the 7th to 12th round when he started getting hit hard by Beterbiev. I’m not sure if Bivol can change that in the rematch without being beaten.
“I think Bivol wins two more rounds. I don’t know why the result is like this, but I will try to repeat. They deserve it. If they agree, we will do it,” said Turki.
Bivol deserves a decision if one takes the superior power and clean shot that Beterbiev was hitting him with. If both throw with the same intensity, Bivol deserves to win. But given that Beterbiev’s punches were the hardest, 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.
“That’s up to your Honor. He said, ‘Wrong decision. I’m going to do a rematch,” said Eddie Hearn on Charlie Parson’s Stomping Grounds.
The judges made the right decision. What was wrong was Bivol’s game plan of movement, jamming, and holding. If he had tried to fight Beterbiev in the center of the ring, it would have been a different result. Instead, Bivol played it safe, hoping the judges would give him the win based on his merits the minimalist wayand he found out the hard way that they don’t appreciate that style.
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