Artur Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol by majority resolution to unify boxing’s gentle heavyweight titles. The judges scored the competition, 115-113 and 116-112 for the Russian-Canadian fighter with one choose scoring it a draw at 114-114.
Saturday’s predominant occasion from Kingdom Enviornment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was maybe one of the best matchup obtainable to make within the sport and the pair delivered a high-level, back-and-forth, 12-round contest.
Beterbiev was 20-0 with 20 knockouts getting into the bout and held three of boxing’s championship belts (IBF, WBC and WBO) within the 175-pound division. The 39-year-old is now 21-0 after selecting up his first resolution victory as a professional.
Bivol, 33, was 23-0 and the WBA champion previous to going through Beterbiev. Bivol’s greatest battle previous to Saturday was his 2022 victory over Canelo Alvarez.
For the reason that battle was so intently contested, it’s potential a rematch could also be scheduled.