- Artur Beterbiev crowned undisputed light-heavyweight champion
- Defeated Dmitry Bivol on majority points decision
- First undisputed champion since Roy Jones Jr. in 1999
Artur Beterbiev, a Russian-born Canadian boxer, has been crowned the undisputed light-heavyweight world champion after defeating his Russian opponent Dmitry Bivol on a majority points decision in Saudi Arabia.
At Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena on Saturday, two of the three ringside judges scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Beterbiev, while the other called it tied at 114-114.
Both men were previously undefeated, with Bivol, 33, holding the WBA title and Beterbiev, 39, the reigning WBC, WBO, and IBF champion.
By bringing the bearded Beterbiev to 12 rounds in the Saudi capital, Bivol became the first man to go the distance against a champion who had previously won all his fights by knockout or stoppage.
“I wanted to box more, and I don’t enjoy this battle. “I was a little uncomfortable,” Beterbiev admitted after his victory.
“I felt uncomfortable because usually I’m not waiting for the bell.”
The headlining fight, which was rescheduled from last June after Montreal-based Beterbiev suffered a knee injury, put all four recognized significant championships in the hands of one man for the first time.
Roy Jones Jr, an American, was the last undisputed light heavyweight champion, defeating Reggie Johnson to unify the WBA, WBC, and IBF belts in 1999.
Bivol became a shifting target in a high-quality battle between the heavy punching and aggressive Beterbiev and a more fluid opponent who delivered eye-catching early blows and dominated the early rounds.
At the halfway point, nothing separated the two, with Beterbiev possibly trailing, but each round was a close call in a battle that lacked fireworks but provided something for purists.
Beterbiev knew he had to end with a bang in the final two rounds, so he increased the tempo, but Bivol hung in and struck back with some devastating combinations.
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“I just congratulate Artur and his team, he deserves it,” Bivol, who expects a rematch, said after the about.
“I performed my job, although I felt I could have done better, as I always do, but that is the judges’ opinion. “He won.”
Jai Opetaia of Australia earlier retained his IBF cruiserweight world title after Jack Massey’s camp threw in the towel two minutes into the sixth round, with the beaten Briton bleeding from a cut on the side of his nose.
The dominating victory improved Opetaia’s record to 26-0.
Skye Nicolson, an undefeated Australian, won the first women’s world title in Saudi Arabia, defeating Britain’s Raven Chapman by unanimous points.
A light heavyweight battle between British fighters Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron ended in a draw when both fell out of the ring. At the same time, Fabio Wardley stopped Frazer Clarke in the first round of their British heavyweight title.
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