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.
The judges scored Sunday’s 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 the top of 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.
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