An unmarked, newly minted undisputed mild heavyweight champion, Artur Beterbiev, stood side-by-side with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and former WBA belt-holder Dmitry Bivol in a put up in the present day on social media. Turki uploaded a photograph of him, Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), and Bivol on his X. Turki is holding an exquisite portray of Beterbiev and Bivol within the photograph.
Beterbiev appeared like he hadn’t been in a battle, displaying any indicators of bruising on his face from his 12-round majority choice win over Bivol final Saturday evening on the Kingdom Enviornment in Riyadh. Beterbiev’s fists appeared enormous within the photograph, nearly like he wore gloves. Which may clarify why his punches are so sturdy. They resemble two sledgehammers.
Bivol fell quick on the scorecards, dropping by 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112. The battle was misplaced when Beterbiev reworked himself into Superman, going into hyper mode within the second half to batter Bivol across the ring, forcing him to maneuver to maintain from getting knocked out. After the battle, Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, was hopping mad, having seen his plans for a mega-fight between Dmitry and Canelo Alvarez dashed.
Hearn vented that Bivol ought to have gained, however he obtained little or no sympathy from followers, who noticed him as in denial. Bivol nonetheless has an outdoor probability of getting a Canelo mega-money battle, however he’s obtained to beat Beterbiev to get that honor.
“I assumed Artur obtained inside fairly a bit, and among the rounds the place massive, massive rounds. He didn’t do something, and Artur was throughout him and I feel that swayed towards us so much,” mentioned John Scully, the coach for Artur Beterbiev, talking to Boxing King Media, about why they obtained the win with the judges over Dmitry Bivol.
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🥊❤️🔥💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/0z56acpfSZ
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) October 13, 2024
“In no way. These guys are the most effective of the most effective on this planet. You may by no means go right into a battle like that and anticipate a knockout,” mentioned Scully when requested how stunned he was that Bivol made it the complete 12 rounds with out getting knocked out.
Beterbiev most likely might have knocked out Bivol if he had blitzed him from the primary spherical like he’d carried out elements of the seventh and eighth rounds. If Beterbiev had attacked Bivol as he did in his battle in opposition to Radivoje Kalajdzic, he’d have caved in. That was classic Beterbiev in opposition to Hotrod.
“He clearly obtained caught with some massive photographs, and he took punch,” mentioned Scully about Bivol having a swollen left eye. “He caught some stable photographs. There have been a few occasions after I thought we had him. I actually thought we had him. I assumed the battle was going to be over. He appeared like he was on shaky legs, however he’s a high-level fighter. So, he got here by way of,” mentioned Scully.
There have been a number of rounds the place Beterbiev unleashed on Bivol and had him trying in severe misery. He was taking some massive headshots in these sequences and looking out near being stopped. The professional-Bivol followers who thought he gained don’t keep in mind these rounds, however there are a number of of them. If Beterbiev learns from this battle, he’ll knock out Bivol within the rematch.
“In a battle like that, you by no means know. I might all the time say, ‘Go for the knockout.’ I might all the time inform a fighter in that place to go for the knockout. I assumed Artur dominated the final spherical. Midway by way of, I assumed we had probability of getting a knockout. However like I say. Dmitry is world-class. I wouldn’t thoughts seeing a rematch. Now that they know one another, a rematch could be even higher,” mentioned Scully.
Beterbiev tried to go for the knockout within the twelfth spherical, however Bivol repeatedly tied him as much as stop him from getting his photographs off. Bivol’s fixed tie-ups had a adverse impact, holding him from successful the spherical by throwing photographs. What Bivol ought to have carried out was throw photographs to win the spherical. Nonetheless, he appeared drained and had been harm a number of occasions within the earlier rounds, and he didn’t wish to take probabilities of getting hit with a flurry of heavy photographs from Beterbiev.
