Turki Alalshikh Wants Beterbiev Vs. Bivol Rematch

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh didn’t agree with the decision the three judges turned in for the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight on Saturday night, and he wants to put together a rematch between them if they agree.

Turki felt that WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) deserved the victory by a couple of rounds. Bivol stopped fighting in rounds 10, 11 and 12. That was the difference in the contest. Beterbiev wanted it more down the stretch, and the judges noticed.

A rematch would probably go worse for Bivol because Beterbiev will have more time to strengthen his recently surgically operated right knee, and he’ll have learned from this fight.

What Beterbiev showed is that Bivol caved in under his pressure in the last half of the fight, yielding and having nothing to fight him off due to his lack of power. In the rematch, Beterbiev will push the pace of the fight right off the bat and wear Bivol down faster.

Beterbiev will likely agree to the rematch because his options for big fights are limited. His purse for his fight tonight was rumored to be $10 million. If he can get similar money in a rematch with Bivol, he’ll take it.

The judges gave it to IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision by the scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 116-112.

It’s easy to see why. Beterbiev was the aggressor during the fight, landed the harder shots, and looked like he wanted it more down the stretch in rounds 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. The last six rounds were all Beterbiev.

Bivol used his jab, short combinations, and footwork to win some of the rounds in the first half of the fight. Beterbiev was too cautious in rounds one through six to win more than three. Some fans felt that Bivol won five of the first six rounds, but that would have been ignoring a lot of the hard shots that Beterbiev was landing to get the better of him.

“It’s one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen in the last 20 years, but I don’t think the result is fair,” said Turki Alalshikh to the Stomping Ground, talking about Artur Beterbiev’s win over Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night.

The judges scored the fight logically. They felt that Beterbiev landed the harder, cleaner shots and showed more initiative. Bivol eased off entirely in rounds 7 to 12 when he started getting hit hard by Beterbiev. I’m not sure if that’s something that Bivol can change in the rematch without getting knocked out.

“I think Bivol win two rounds more. I don’t know why the result is like this, but I will try to do the rematch. They deserve it. If they accept, we will do it,” said Turki.

Bivol deserves a decision if one takes away the superior power and cleaning-landing shots that Beterbiev was hitting him with. If they were both throwing with the same power, Bivol deserved the win. But given that Beterbiev’s punches were a lot harder, he was the one pressing the action, and Bivol looked stressed out, you have to give Artur the win. It was still a close fight, but Beterbiev did more.

“That’s up to His Excellency. He said, ‘Wrong decision. I’ll do the rematch,” said Eddie Hearn to Charlie Parson’s Stomping Grounds.

The judges made the right decision. What was wrong was Bivol’s game plan to move, jab, and hold. If he had tried fighting Beterbiev in the center of the ring, it might have been a different outcome. Instead, Bivol played it safe, hoping the judges would give him a win based on his minimalist approach, and he found out the hard way that they don’t value that style.