bETERBIEV-bIVOL DIDN’T PLAY OUT AS EXPECTED, BUT WAS IT UNFAIR?

By: Sean Crose

It was without doubt a major event in the sport of boxing. Undefeated light heavyweight titlists Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev squared off in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to find out once and for all who the king of the division truly was. And now that the fight is over and done with, there still isn’t a real consensus on who the top dog of the division really is. While it’s true Beterbiev won a majority decision at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, the judge’s ruling was not without controversy. For the fight was close, quite close. After the final bell, some, if not the majority, felt that Bivol should have gotten the decision.

Whether or not there will be a rematch remains to be seen. One wonders if a second fight between these two brilliant ring strategists will play out all that differently a second time around. Each man did what he does best on Saturday. Bivol boxed while Beterbiev stalked. Bivol dominated during portions of the match, but Beterbiev, who had never gone the distance in a career spanning 20 fights was able to land with more power. And as the fight wore down it looked as if Bivol were breaking down.

I didn’t keep score while watching the fight, but you wouldn’t believe me if I argued in favor of one fighter or the other, anyway. Why would you? Boxing can be a subjective sport – an incompetently run and judged sport at times, to be sure – but a subjective sport, nonetheless. Ask ten people who were around during the 80s who won Hagler-Leonard, and there most likely won’t be a consensus. When it comes to the sweet science, victory is often in the eye of the beholder. Such is the nature of boxing fandom.

As are misplaced expectations. Heading into the weekend the consensus appeared to be that Beterbiev would stop Bivol within the distance or that Bivol would slick his way to a decision win. It was hard to imagine anyone thinking that Beterbiev would end up winning on the cards. Yet that’s what actually happened this past weekend. Fans, and analysts, then, were facing the fact that the unexpected prevailed on Saturday – the unexpected and perhaps the disappointing. For, good as it was, the Bivol-Beterbiev fight wasn’t explosively entertaining. It was a high octane chess match for sure, but perhaps not a thriller. And perhaps it shouldn’t have been controversial. This was a closely contested bout, after all.