RIYADH: 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 on Sunday.

The judges scored the fight in Riyadh 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113.

The previous encounter last October, when both went toe-to-toe as unbeaten champions, ended with exactly the same score but to Russian-born Canadian Beterbiev who added the WBA belt to his WBC, WBO and IBF ones.

This time Bivol, 34, was better on the night, moving up a gear and taking the fight to his bearded older opponent, now 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.

“I was better, I was pushing myself more, I was more confident, I was lighter and I just wanted to win so much today.”

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2025