Bivol avenges loss to Beterbiev, claims undisputed 175 title
Exciting rematch another close majority decision; 3rd fight next?
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When Dmitry Bivol would look back on his majority decision loss to Artur Beterbiev in their undisputed light heavyweight title fight in October there was always one word that came to his mind: More — as in he could have done more.
As he said going into the rematch, he needed to have more moments, throw more punches, and have more accuracy with those blows in order to turn the tables.
The second time around they fought to another majority decision, but this time it was Bivol who indeed did do more as he avenged his lone loss and won the undisputed 175-pound title in the main event of the Riyadh Season DAZN PPV card on Saturday before about 7,000 fans at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Bivol won 116-112 and 115-113 while one judge had it 114-114 — the identical scores that gave Beterbiev the undisputed title four months ago in Riyadh. Bivol not only reclaimed the WBA title, but became the lineal champion and won the WBC, WBO and IBF belts in a tremendous battle that was more action-packed than their first encounter. Fight Freaks Unite scored it 114-114, the same as the first fight.
“I’m just so happy. I went through a lot in the last year,” Bivol said. “Thank you so much everybody. I appreciate everybody from my team, my coaches, everyone.
“To be honest, I lost (the first fight) and I didn’t feel too much pressure this time like before last fight. I just wanted to work from the first round to the end of the 12th and I hope I did enough, and I won this one.”
The rematch, coming just four months after their first historic showdown produced the first undisputed champion in the division in 25 years since Roy Jones Jr. accomplished it in 1999 and the first of the four-belt era, was opposite of the way things played out the first time around. In October, it was Bivol who got off to a strong start only to see Beterbiev come on strong to win the final three rounds on all three scorecards to secure the victory.
In the rematch, Beterbiev got off to a much better start and Bivol had to play catch up but was the one who was mostly in command during the second half of the bout.
