Dmitry Bivol Beats Artur Beterbiev By Majority Decision to Win Undisputed World Titles

Dmitry Bivol evened the score and earned the title of undisputed light heavyweight champion with a majority decision win over Artur Beterbiev on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The two light heavyweights picked up right where they started in the first fight. Both men made a compelling case that they won the opening round with Beterbiev as the aggressor and Bivol firing back with jabs. 

Bivol’s active jab continued to be an interesting counter to Beterbiev’s stalking. The two both exchanged positive moments in the early round. 

The fourth and fifth round saw Beterbiev begin making a major investment with body shots. He attacked Bivol’s core with relentless pressure and began turning the fight in his favor. 

Bivol continued to try and scare off Beterbiev’s pressure with jabs, but they didn’t do much to stop him from coming forward. 

The middle rounds saw Bivol stand his ground a bit more. Beterbiev still came forward, but Bivol made him pay more often and created an interesting dilemma for the scorecards. Many scorecards were close to even heading into the latter rounds setting up an epic conclusion. 

Bivol certainly finished stronger than he did in the first fight and capped off another intriguing fight for both former champions again. 

Bivol exacted revenge after losing the first fight to Beterbiev via majority decision back in October. Bivol won early rounds, but Beterbiev made a strong push at the end of the fight that ended up making the difference.

It was the first loss of Bivol's career and he dropped his WBA and IBO titles in the bout which had to add motivation to make things right in the second fight.

The obvious follow-up question is whether this will lead to a trilogy fight between the two. There should be interest given how good the first two fights were, but there are other options.

One option lurking is David Benavidez He was present for the fight in Riyadh in hopes of drumming up interest in a bout.

“The reason we’re going to Saudi is that both the WBC and WBA have said that David is mandatory to fight the winner of Beterbiev and Bivol… there’s a strong possibility we can make this fight happen,” Benavidez's father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Jr. said, per BoxingScene's Lance Pugmire.

Benavidez moved his record to 30-0 with a unanimous decision win over David Morrell Jr. in February. He was once primed to fight Canelo Alvarez, but has since moved on and established himself as a rising star in the light heavyweight division.