Russian Dmitry Bivol avenged a previous defeat to take the undisputed light heavyweight world title from Artur Beterbiev on a majority points decision in an epic rematch in Saudi Arabia yesterday.
The judges scored the fight in Riyadh 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113.
The previous encounter in October last year, when both went toe-to-toe as unbeaten champions, ended with exactly the same score but to Russian-born Canadian Beterbiev who added the World Boxing Association belt to his World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and IBF ones.
Photo: Reuters
This time Bivol, 34, was better on the night, moving up a gear and taking the fight to his bearded older opponent, 40, with determination and classy combinations.
The 1-1 outcome opens the way to an inevitable third clash between the two.
“Actually I didn’t want the second fight, it wasn’t my choice, but no problem. We’re going to do a third fight,” Beterbiev, who did not shake Bivol’s hand, said in the ring after the scores were announced.
Bivol said he was up for any challenge, but needed a rest after his exertions.
“I want to heal myself a little bit and come back,” said the Russian, who ended the fight with blood streaming from over his left eye.
“I didn’t have as much pressure like last time. I just wanted to work from the first round until the end of the 12th. I did enough and I won this,” he said. “I was better, I was pushing myself more, I was more confident, I was lighter and I just wanted to win so much today.”
Bivol had the better of his opponent over the first three rounds, but the champion found his rhythm in the fourth in a livelier fight than the first one, but still with little to separate the two.
At the final bell neither boxer could be sure of the outcome, both waiting for the scores to be read without celebrating in advance.
“I don’t want to talk about the decision, it’s tough. Congratulations to Bivol’s team,” said Beterbiev, who could claim the final round. “I thought this fight was better than the first fight, but we’ll see. Now is my time to come back.”
Earlier, three-time world champion Shakur Stevenson retained his WBC lightweight title after stopping stand-in Josh Padley, a British electrician who had three days to prepare for the fight, at the end of nine rounds.
Former WBO world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker stopped another late replacement Martin Bakole in two rounds in their WBO Interim bout.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS