Dmitry Bivol gets his revenge and defeats Artur Beterbiev in rematch

Dmitry Bivol exacted his revenge and defeated Artur Beterbiev last weekend in their blockbuster rematch in Saudi Arabia.

The expectation heading into this second fight was that Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev would put on a real show – and that’s exactly what they did. The pair went out there and may well have eclipsed their first encounter, with both men proving why they’re the very best light heavyweight boxers on the planet today.

However, unlike in the first fight, it was Dmitry Bivol who had his hand raised. The majority decision scorecards read 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113, meaning that Bivol was declared the winner and captured the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring light-heavyweight titles.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol react to rematch

“I wanted to work from the first round to the end of the 12th. I was better. I was pushing myself more, I was more confident and I was lighter. I wanted to win so much today,” Bivol said.

“I didn’t want the second fight, it wasn’t my choice, but no problem. We can do a third fight if we need to,” Beterbiev, who suffered his first pro loss in 22 fights, said.

Quotes via BBC

For Dmitry Bivol, this is a vindicating moment. Many felt as if he should’ve gotten the nod in their first fight and this time, he was just about to get over the finish line. Given how both men reacted to the contest, you’d have to think that a trilogy fight is on the cards – or, at the very least, quite likely to happen.

Artur Beterbiev needs to go back to the drawing board but in truth, he’s already exceeded the expectations of the masses. He has done remarkably well to even compete at this level at the age of 40, and we’re fascinated to see what both individuals do next.