If you enjoyed the technical thriller that was last October’s undisputed light heavyweight showdown between unbeaten champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, there’s good news: their rematch has all the makings to be even better.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), who rallied to secure a disputed majority decision just four months ago, returns to the same Kingdom Arena ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday to defend all four titles at 175 pounds against Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) in their immediate second meeting.
The bout serves as the main event of a loaded pay-per-view card (DAZN PPV) titled “The Last Crescendo,” which is presented by Turki Alalshikh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has been widely considered, at least on paper, as the deepest card in boxing history.
The first matchup between these future Hall of Famers turned out to be an instant classic in its own right, garnering critical respect as one of the best bouts of 2024. It featured a high pace, constant adjustments from both and a result from the three judges (116-112, 115-113 for Beterbiev and 114-114) that is still being debated up until today.
Bivol, 34, suffered his first pro defeat despite slightly outlanding the 40-year-old Beterbiev by a margin of 142 to 137, according to CompuBox. Bivol also connected on an eye-opening 50% of his power punches while also landing more jabs and body shots. Beterbiev, however, held a six-punch edge in total power connects.
Yet, despite how much their first meeting, which crowned the only four-belt, undisputed champion in light heavyweight history, received high praise for how entertaining it was as a showcase of pound-for-pound rated skill sets, the lingering feeling heading into the rematch is that both boxers could’ve performed even better last time out.
Boxing predictions, odds, best bets: Dmitry Bivol, Daniel Dubois and Vergil Ortiz among top picks this week
Brent Brookhouse
Beterbiev was only months removed from a knee surgery that originally postponed the bout from June to October. The native of Russia, who fights out of Montreal, also got off to a slow start in the early rounds and was lucky to survive being visibly hurt in Round 7 before rallying in the championship rounds to secure the close win on the scorecards.
Bivol, meanwhile, despite landing the more telling blows throughout, was visibly fatigued during the final rounds and was criticized for backpedaling late with the fight on the line as Beterbiev continued to heat up.
“I learned that I don’t like to lose and I want to win,” Bivol told “The Ring” podcast this week. “I just need to be better in all positions. I need to be faster, harder, smarter. Everything needs to be better … not only more punches but more movement, better speed and more heavier punches.
“You have to be focused each second fighting guys like Beterbiev. Generally, I liked how I handled everything mentally for that fight and how I was controlling [the fight] most of the time. But, at the same time, I don’t like what I didn’t do to win this fight.”
If you follow the words of both boxers closely, it almost appears as if each one was slightly surprised at how beatable the other turned out to be inside the ring. That’s a big reason as to why the expectations have become that each fighter will throw more caution to the wind the second time around to avoid leaving the result in the judges’ hands.
Bivol, in fact, said he was surprised ultimately at how well he was able to take Beterbiev’s best shots despite his reputation as quite possibly the most feared puncher in the sport.
“No, I didn’t feel that [Beterbiev hit] heavier than other boxers,” Bivol said. “I remember the first time I got maybe a right hand from him, it was not nice feelings, of course. It was strong but not stronger than anybody else who I thought had heavy punches like [Jean] Pascal or Joe Smith. But [Beterbiev] doesn’t do much efforts to reach this power. Just him throwing [any] punches is hard.
“I was thinking about him very high, that he was a very good fighter and the strongest and fastest man on the planet. [But] when I was in the ring, it was normal.”
Beterbiev, a notoriously humble man of few words who never offers excuses, looked almost uncomfortable when asked during a sitdown with Queensberry Promotions this week about how much the recovery from knee injury slowed him. But Beterbiev, who lost to Oleksandr Usyk in the gold medal match of the 2012 Olympics at heavyweight, reluctantly agreed that the Bivol fight was the most difficult of his career to date.
“I hope and I believe that this will be a more interesting fight because we know each other more,” Beterbiev said. “There was a little bit of short time [to train] before the fight [because of surgery]. [My knee] was not perfect at that time but now it’s closer to better.
“If you compare that [the first fight] went to a decision, yes, you can call it my toughest fight. But it’s a little bit different. I think, in my boxing career, I have [fought] stronger guys than him. [Bivol] was different but, yes, you can say it was my toughest fight.”
Beterbiev has long said that he doesn’t consider himself a great boxer, yet, and is still improving his craft each time out despite having turned 40. While Beterbiev remains his harshest critics, what he couldn’t care less about is the criticism of others, particularly anyone who felt that he was awarded a close decision that he didn’t deserve.
“I don’t listen to them,” Beterbiev said. “I don’t care.”
In case you were curious, Beterbiev also doesn’t care about the ending of a knockout streak that began with his pro debut in 2013. All he is focused upon is bringing out even more of himself against Bivol the second time, especially considering Alalshikh has already publicly stated that a Bivol win would produce an immediate trilogy fight.
“Everything, I will try to do everything better,” Beterbiev said. “Of course [I can do better]. I believe that [everything can be better] but not because there was no knockout. There are other things; many, many things that I can prove in my boxing skills and my physical aspect, too. Like my coach says, we have space to improve. Even if I have a chance to prepare for 10 percent of me, I think it’s going to be much better.”
Bivol, who scored breakthrough wins over Canelo Alvarez and then-unbeaten Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in 2022 to capture fighter of the year honors, found out in the first fight that his power and precision were good enough to hurt Beterbiev. What he will need to focus on most in the rematch is bringing enough stamina to go 12 hard rounds.
“We had first fight and we knew each other. Now, we have the main fight,” Bivol said. “It’s something new again, [being the] challenger. It’s new, fresh feelings. I like it. I have been focusing on the rematch and focusing on what I have to change. Most of the things, I have to be just better than I was before in all positions. I have to be faster, stronger and I have to be better with conditioning.
“I hope I will show my best. I have worked so hard to prepare. It will be faster, smarter, harder; I hope. When you did wrong and you want another chance to fix it, that is my motivation.”
While both fighters have retained a ton of respect for each other as we enter this cordial rematch, the key development has become just how beatable these two living legends look now in the eyes of one another after possibly giving each other too much respect the first time around.
That feels like the perfect formula for the type of high-speed, high-damage shootout that many were expecting the first time.
