The debate over the light-heavyweight contest between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol continues to rage on.
Beterbiev and Bivol did battle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October, with the honour of becoming the first undisputed champion at 175 pounds in over 20 years up for grabs.
It was an extremely close fight with plenty of tight rounds, but in the end it was Beterbiev who was given the nod by majority decision, with the judges scoring it 114-114, 116-112, and 115-113 in his favour.
The verdict has split opinion within boxing and now another of the sport’s top figures has weighed in with their view on who should have come out on top.
That man is Bernard Hopkins, the two-weight world champion who was one of the top dogs of the 175lb weight class from 2006 to 2014.
During his time at light heavyweight, Hopkins defeated a number of top stars, including Roy Jones Jr, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright, Jean Pascal and Kelly Pavlik.
It means that Hopkins knows better than most what it takes to rule the division, and he told Fight Hub TV that he agreed with the decision to hand Beterbiev the win.
“I think the better man won. I think it was close but the man who won was the better man. I don’t go against that, I watched the fight over and over.”
Hopkins isn’t the only big name to recently share their thoughts on the Beterbiev vs Bivol match-up, with Tyson Fury also saying the right man won.
