“Leave ‘em wanting more” is a good show biz tenet. So Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev was good show biz. And great boxing.
Bivol got a majority decision over the previously undefeated Beterbiev after 12 rounds of near-perfect punches from both on Saturday in Riyadh to capture the undisputed light heavyweight championship, meaning Bivol now has all the 175 lbs. belts that matter: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring. But more to the point: Damn, are these guys great.
With the win, Bivol (24-1) avenged his only career loss, which came in October to Beterbiev, also by majority decision in the Saudi capital. One judge scored Saturday’s fight a draw, 114-114, while the two other arbiters had it 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Bivol. That’s the exact same scores turned in for their original matchup, only that decision fell in Beterbiev’s favor. Beterbiev’s ring record is now 22-1 with 21 KO’s.
But the truth is both of their bouts, and even all but a few of the 24 fantastic rounds the pugilistic pair of Eastern Europeans have now spent fighting each other, could’ve gone the other way and nobody could’ve raised much of a stink.
The Dagestan-born Beterbiev, as in all of his fights including the last matchup with Bivol, never seemed not in control. Bivol, a 34-year-old Russian, played the aggressor after the opening bell and appeared to win the opening rounds, but Beterbiev and his relentless, almost plodding north-south attacks appeared to be wearing Bivol down, which also was how their first encounter played out. The difference this time around was that Bivol outworked his opponent in the latter stages of the fight, only pausing his light-footed jaunts around the ring to throw punches in bunches at the stalking, menacing Beterbiev. At one point in the 10th round Bivol bounced a seven-piece combo of stiff left jabs and straight right hands off the now-former champ’s noggin before taking any return fire.
But both fighters proved they can absorb more shots without getting woozy than any warrior since Ulysses Grant. Beterbiev barely flinched while taking even the best of Bivol's many beautiful blows. But Bivol's breathtaking displays of speed, power, accuracy and chutzpah likely helped him steal several close rounds on the judges' cards. Bivol’s aggressive sorties finally got him in some trouble with a minute left in the 12th and last round, when Beterbiev countered an attempted blitz from Bivol with a big right hand, the one that a DAZN announcer described as possessing "life-changing power." The punch briefly stunned the challenger and opened a gash over his left eye.
For the first time all fight, Beterbiev showed some urgency, and Bivol looked in trouble. Beterbiev swarmed Bivol as blood streaked his face. But Bivol, resorting to his training and ring experience, gamely grabbed his opponent and used a few clinches to regain his composure, then got back on his bicycle and danced away from harm until the final bell. Against any other fighter, Beterbiev's steady and disciplined approach has always proved to be enough: Bivol is the only guy to ever go the distance against Beterbiev, and he’s now done it twice. When Beterbiev watches the tape, he will likely wish he’d abandoned his clinical style a few rounds earlier and threw more haymakers Bivol’s way. And like everybody who saw the fight live, Beterbiev, 40, will surely beg for a trilogy fight, stat. Here's hoping Bivol acquiesces.
Bivol’s win now stands as a career peak, topping even his dominating defeat of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2022, when the Mexican all-timer moved up from super middleweight to light heavy to face the much-taller Bivol. Canelo’s legendary status notwithstanding, the onesided fight made that old boxing axiom, “A good big guy always beats a good little guy,” seem true as hell. (Bivol remains the only fighter other than Floyd Mayweather to ever beat Canelo.)
Bivol vs. Beterbiev also put a nice cap on a fight night that promoters had mis-pitched for months as the Greatest Card In Boxing History. It had its moments, for sure. The best of the undercard found Callum Smith out-throwing and outlasting Joshua Buatsi to win a unanimous decision and capture something called the “interim WBO light-heavyweight” belt, a title that sorta disputes the undisputed tag now being accorded Bivol. Smith battered Buatsi throughout the 12th and final round of what had been a brutal and by all appearances close fight to that point, making it easier for the crowd to accept the lopsided scorecards announced after the bell, one of which had Smith up 119-110.
Vergil Ortiz Jr and Israil Madrimov also did themselves and their sport proud in their light-middleweight title fight, which the judges gave to Ortiz by a close but unanimous decision after 12 rounds of non-stop action.
But boxing has been all but dominated by circus acts in recent years, and there was a clown-show aura to much of the proceedings. Overhyped and over-hated lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson had originally been scheduled to fight Floyd Schofield Jr. for the WBC belt, but Schofield pulled out earlier in the week citing illness. Stevenson is a Newark, N.J.-based fighter who despite being mentioned up high in all pound-for-pound rankings is most often cited for a lack of punching power and an inability to put on exciting fights. Rather than cancel the bout, promoters convinced Josh Padley, a 29-year old Englishman who along with being an occasional fighter holds a job as an electrician, to get in the ring. Padley said he was installing solar panels on Tuesday in his hometown of Doncaster when he got a call offering a chance to face the lightweight champ. He said sure.
Padley entered the ring with a full-back tattoo of what in the fog of combat appeared to be Mike Tyson kicking Jesus’s ass, though Padley’s body art actually portrays Zeus taking a big right hand from Tyson. Padley was clearly up to throw some leather. But as expected given the talent gap and the fact that Padley's training “camp” lasted all of two days, the game challenger ate far more punches than he served up. The clock struck midnight on Padley's Cinderella fantasy in the ninth round, as his corner threw in the towel after seeing him knocked down a third time and left choking for air by a body shot from Stevenson. The champ, now 23-0, was nonetheless booed by Saudi fans as he celebrated the rare-for-him stoppage win.
The show's saddest shenanigans came in the matchup of former heavyweight champ Joseph Parker Jr. and bloated Congan Martin Bakole. The fight was billed as the co-main event, and was originally supposed to feature Parker, the only New Zealander to ever hold a heavyweight belt, against Daniel Dubois, a hot commodity in the sweet science since his devastating KO of underwhelming pretty boy ex-champ Anthony Joshua last September before a packed Wembley Stadium crowd. But Dubois withdrew on Thursday, also citing illness. Bakole, a massive but blatantly out-of-ring-shape guy, immediately agreed to take Dubois's spot, but couldn't even get to Riyadh in time for the public weigh-in. He arrived the morning of the fight, and came to the ring wearing what appeared to be an off-the-rack pair of civilian shorts with a few sponsors patches sewed on and looking a whole lot heavier than his advertised 310 pounds. In clinches, Bakole made even the 265-pound Parker look tiny. But, alas, Bakole fought as an unprepared fat guy would. He weebled and wobbled and went down in a heap in the second round after Parker caught him on top of the head with an overhand right that he started throwing on the other side of the ring. Bakole, luckily for all witnesses and anybody who gives a rip about boxing, did not get up.
Thank god for the nightcap of Beterbiev–Bivol II. Again: More of that, please.
