Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev put on another elite showing four months after their first meeting.
Beterbiev became undisputed champion with a majority decision win last October, ending a 20-fight knockout streak with the victory. Many in the sport felt Bivol had done enough to have his hand raised, and he managed to leave little doubt the second time around to snatch all four belts after 12 technical and thrilling rounds.
Bivol – who also won by MD – outlanded Beterbiev in nine of the 12 rounds and, although now wearing the marks of his power-punching opponent, answered every shot taken valiantly.
Neither man created unnecessary hype or bad blood in the build-up, intent on doing their talking in the ring. It came as a surprise to some, then, that the Sky Sports broadcast reported Beterbiev ‘refused’ a handshake from Bivol. Much discussion came online afterwards.
At the post-fight press conference, Bivol cleared up any confusion by confirming the pair had already shown respect and shook hands before the incident.
“After the fight, I came to Beterbiev and I told him, ‘Artur, I respect you so much because when I was young and I can to the national team I was looking up to you, how you were training and you were the number one. I really respect you and I want to shake your hand and say thank you for this fight.’ And we shook hands. He said, ‘thank you for the fight also. This is sport. This is what happens. You are a good fighter also.'”
He then said that the moment Beterbiev turned down a handshake was because he said they will do it once the trilogy is complete.
“Then we had another talk. He came [over to me] and said, ‘I will not shake hands now, because we will have a third fight.’ It was in the normal way, not arrogant. It was fine. I said, ‘okay, no problem.'”
No fan of the sport would refute the idea of a trilogy given the 24 rounds the two Russian competitors have provided so far in their rivalry. A rubber match becomes ever more likely given that the chasing pack at light-heavyweight mostly seem a way off matching either man.
