Artur Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol by majority resolution to unify boxing’s mild heavyweight titles. The judges scored the competition, 115-113 and 116-112 for the Russian-Canadian fighter with one choose scoring it a draw at 114-114.
Saturday’s major occasion from Kingdom Area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was maybe the most effective matchup accessible to make within the sport and the pair delivered a high-level, back-and-forth, 12-round contest.
Beterbiev was 20-0 with 20 knockouts coming into the bout and held three of boxing’s championship belts (IBF, WBC and WBO) within the 175-pound division. The 39-year-old is now 21-0 after choosing up his first resolution victory as a professional.
Bivol, 33, was 23-0 and the WBA champion previous to dealing with Beterbiev. Bivol’s greatest struggle previous to Saturday was his 2022 victory over Canelo Alvarez.
Because the struggle was so carefully contested, it’s potential a rematch could also be scheduled.
