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 as we speak on social media. Turki uploaded a photograph of him, Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), and Bivol on his X. Turki is holding a phenomenal portray of Beterbiev and Bivol within the picture.
Beterbiev seemed like he hadn’t been in a battle, exhibiting any indicators of bruising on his face from his 12-round majority choice win over Bivol final Saturday night time on the Kingdom Area in Riyadh. Beterbiev’s fists seemed large within the picture, virtually like he wore gloves. Which may clarify why his punches are so sturdy. They resemble two sledgehammers.
Bivol fell brief on the scorecards, dropping by 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112. The battle was misplaced when Beterbiev remodeled 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 received, however he obtained little or no sympathy from followers, who noticed him as in denial. Bivol nonetheless has an outdoor likelihood of getting a Canelo mega-money battle, however he’s bought to beat Beterbiev to get that honor.
“I believed Artur bought inside fairly a bit, and a number of the rounds the place huge, huge rounds. He didn’t do something, and Artur was throughout him and I believe that swayed towards us quite a bit,” stated John Scully, the coach for Artur Beterbiev, chatting with Boxing King Media, about why they bought the win with the judges over Dmitry Bivol.
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🥊❤️🔥💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/0z56acpfSZ
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) October 13, 2024
“By no means. These guys are the most effective of the most effective on the earth. You’ll be able to by no means go right into a battle like that and count on a knockout,” stated Scully when requested how shocked he was that Bivol made it the total 12 rounds with out getting knocked out.
Beterbiev in all probability may have knocked out Bivol if he had blitzed him from the primary spherical like he’d completed components of the seventh and eighth rounds. If Beterbiev had attacked Bivol as he did in his battle towards Radivoje Kalajdzic, he’d have caved in. That was classic Beterbiev towards Hotrod.
“He clearly bought caught with some huge photographs, and he took an excellent punch,” stated Scully about Bivol having a swollen left eye. “He caught some stable photographs. There have been a few occasions once I thought we had him. I actually thought we had him. I believed the battle was going to be over. He seemed like he was on shaky legs, however he’s a high-level fighter. So, he got here by,” stated Scully.
There have been a number of rounds the place Beterbiev unleashed on Bivol and had him wanting in severe misery. He was taking some huge headshots in these sequences and looking out near being stopped. The professional-Bivol followers who thought he received don’t bear 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’d all the time say, ‘Go for the knockout.’ I’d all the time inform a fighter in that place to go for the knockout. I believed Artur dominated the final spherical. Midway by, I believed we had an excellent likelihood 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,” stated 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 destructive impact, conserving him from successful the spherical by throwing photographs. What Bivol ought to have completed was throw photographs to win the spherical. Nevertheless, he seemed 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.
