Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2: Undisputed Light Heavyweight Title

English Audio Above. Arabic Translated Audio Below.

Beterbiev and Bivol are going to go at it once again on February 22nd in the same venue where they fought the first time, Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Bivol seeks redemption after his majority decision loss to Beterbiev on October 24th, 2024.

Both men are warriors at the highest level. They have their strengths and weaknesses that they both overcome to win. Beterbiev is a skilled power puncher who will follow you around to punish you with three, four, or five-punch combos. Bivol is harder to access because his skill has more dimensions. 

Bivol likes to control the floor, moving in and out, then suddenly hitting opponents with powerful punches to the head and body. With under a 60% knockout ratio, Bivol's punches hurt enough to discourage any opponent, including Beterbiev, as shown in their October 24th, 2024 fight in which he held his own on some of his exchanges with him. 

Beterbiev's knockout power is immense, knocking out 95% of his opponents. He knocked out every opponent he faced other than Bivol. Hands down to Bivol for being the first to do that. 

Andre Ward, one of the best boxers I've ever seen, said, "He's a lot better skillfully than a lot of people give him credit for. And, he's going to be a hard guy to beat."

That's a well-deserved praise for Beterbiev from a former great champion, Andre Ward. 

Artur Beterbiev turned pro rather late at the age of 28 after a prolific amateur boxing career. That explains why he's fought 21 times in over 10 years as a pro. He's also five years older than Bivol. 

Bivol became the first Beterbiev opponent to last all twelve rounds. It's hard to hit him flush on the face first multiple times in a fight. He is elusive due to the bounce in his feet. He knows how to move in and out, side to side. 

In their first fight, I picked Bivol to win, one of the rare times I was actually wrong. In the rematch, Bivol will make adjustments that would make the fight harder for Beterbiev the next time around.

Bivol did well in the earlier rounds, but as the fight went on, the difference was Beterbiev's power. He felt that power, fighting Beterbiev toe-to-toe, resulting in moments where he got hurt; however, I still thought that he did enough to possibly have won the fight by a small margin. However, his opponent's more aggressive style, which some judges prefer, ultimately led to his loss to Beterbiev.

Dmitry Bivol wins the rematch by split or majority decision.