Artur Beterbiev beats Dmitry Bivol on majority factors to mix the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF belts on the struggle in Riyadh.
Russian-born Canadian boxer Artur Beterbiev has been topped the undisputed light-heavyweight world champion after he beat his Russian rival Dmitry Bivol on a majority factors determination in Saudi Arabia.
Two of the three ringside judges scored the struggle 115-113 and 116-112 to Beterbiev, whereas the opposite referred to as it tied at 114-114 at Riyadh’s Kingdom Area on Saturday.
Each males had been beforehand undefeated, with 33-year-old Bivol holding the WBA belt and Beterbiev, 39, the reigning WBC, WBO and IBF champion.
By taking the bearded Beterbiev to a full 12 rounds within the Saudi capital, Bivol turned the primary man to go the space towards a champion with a earlier one hundred pc file of profitable by knockout or stoppage.
“I wished to field extra, I don’t like this struggle. I used to be just a little bit uncomfortable,” Beterbiev stated after his win.
“I felt uncomfortable as a result of often I’m not ready for the bell.”
The headline conflict, postponed from final June after Montreal-based Beterbiev suffered a knee harm, put the 4 recognised main belts within the arms of 1 man for the primary time.
The final undisputed gentle heavyweight champion was American Roy Jones Jr, who beat Reggie Johnson to unify the WBA, WBC and IBF belts in 1999.
Bivol made himself a transferring goal in a high-quality struggle between the large punching and aggressive Beterbiev and a extra fluid rival who landed eye-catching early blows and had the higher of the early rounds.
There was little between the 2 on the midway level, with Beterbiev presumably behind however each spherical a detailed name in a struggle in need of fireworks however with a lot for the purists.
Beterbiev knew he needed to shut with a bang within the final two rounds and raised the tempo however Bivol hung in there and fired again some highly effective combos.
“I simply congratulate Artur and his workforce, he deserves it,” Bivol, who expects a doable rematch, stated after the struggle.
“I did my job, I felt I may do higher, I all the time really feel I can do higher, however that’s the opinion of the judges. He received.”
A struggle for the ages! Congratulations to our Champion, Arthur Beterbiev on changing into undisputed ruler of the Lt. Heavyweight division. Congratulations additionally to Dimitri Bivol on a really spectacular effort that stored struggle followers on the fringe of their seats. pic.twitter.com/mz2A67wKlb
— WBO (@WorldBoxingOrg) October 13, 2024
Australia’s Jai Opetaia earlier retained his IBF cruiserweight world title when Jack Massey’s nook threw within the towel two minutes into the sixth spherical with the crushed Briton bleeding from a lower to the aspect of his nostril.
The convincing win took Opetaia’s file to 26-0.
Unbeaten Australian Skye Nicolson received the primary ladies’s world title struggle held in Saudi Arabia when she defended her WBC featherweight belt towards Britain’s Raven Chapman in a unanimous factors determination.
A lightweight heavyweight struggle between Britons Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron led to a draw after each crashed out of the ring, whereas Fabio Wardley stopped Frazer Clarke within the first spherical of their British heavyweight title struggle.
