Artur Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol by majority decision to win the absolute world light heavyweight title. The long-awaited clash between the two undefeated boxers in the ring offered high quality. In the end, Beterbiev stopped Bivol and became the first to unify the belts since Roy Jones in 1999.
Bivol entered the match with a perfect record, with his impressive win over Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez on his business card. He has been the WBA champion since 2017. Beterbiev held the remaining three belts of the WBO, WBC and IBF, never having won a fight without a knockout.
The opening minutes of the match were for Bivol, who, however, did not seriously threaten the opponent. Gradually, however, Beterbiev imposed his will - he did not triumph traditionally with a knockout, but he did enough to win over the judges. One of them awarded it a 114-114 draw, but the other two scored it 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of the 39-year-old Russian.
"I don't feel bad, I wanted to fight more, I didn't like the match. I felt a little uncomfortable. Of course the match was tough, Dmitry is a world champion and has better qualities than me. I felt uncomfortable because usually I'm not waiting to hear the gong!", were Beterbiev's words after the match.
Bivol, for his part, did not complain about the final result. "I'm a warrior, I have to do everything perfectly. I have no explanations or excuses. I just congratulate Artur and his staff, he deserves it. I did my job - I could have done better, I always feel that way, but that's the opinion of the judges. He won. Artur is very strong and you can see that I have a bump on the head, he always hits very powerfully", said Bivol, who hinted that he wants a rematch against Beterbiev. "If I get such an opportunity, why not? My dream is to become an undisputed world champion". | BGNES
