Boxing’s “Riyadh Season” continues Saturday night with Artur Beterbiev defending his light heavyweight championships against Dmitry Bivol in a rematch from last October.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) won a majority decision against Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) to win Bivol’s WBA title while Beterbiev defended his WBO, IBF and WBC titles. Now, both men run it back, and both camps have two separate stories to paint the narrative that their fighter won.
Beterbiev and Bivol met the media Thursday in Saudi Arabia to give their final thoughts on the fight. Both of their advisers, Vadim Kornilov on the Bivol side and Brad Jacobs from the Beterbiev side, spoke on both of their behalf before the fighters exchanged verbal spats at each other.
For Beterbiev, it’s about stamping the two-fight series to prove the first fight wasn’t a fluke.
“I want to defend my belts,” Beterbiev said. “It’s quite simple.”
Beterbiev said that despite mixed reactions to the decision in the first bout, he has no regrets about how it played out.
Meanwhile, Bivol said he is excited to prove he’s the better fighter after the majority decision saw him narrowly lose 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
“Thank you to (Artur) Beterbiev for giving me a rematch,” Bivol said. “Thank you. I’m just thankful inside of me. I want to go into the ring and be (a) winner.”
Bivol recognizes regardless of opponent, every fight contains a measure of uncertainty and the fear of the unknown.
“We are like gamblers,” Bivol said. “Of course, I wasn’t a winner last time. Now, I want (to win). It’s burning inside of me. I want to go. I want to change something (about my game plan) because I can see what was wrong at points (of the fight). I want to change it.”
Bivol added the biggest key for him is going to be “changing punches,” referencing the types of combinations he will attempt to put together.
“It’s always a risk,” Bivol said.
Despite sharing how great he felt about beating Bivol, Beterbiev said there is always room for growth.
“There are many things … it’s always different when you see (how a fight plays out),” Beterbiev said. “Making something different, trying to (correct mistakes). We’re working on it.”
Beterbiev refused to share how he would beat Bivol again, keeping his thoughts under wraps.
The majority of the card remains intact, but the Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker fight postponed. The fight was initially scheduled for Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title. Still, reports from Uncrowned’s Ariel Helwani revealed Dubois suffered a non-disclosed “health issue,” forcing him to withdraw from the fight. DAZN confirmed Dubois was ill.
Replacing Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) to fight Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) in the co-main event is Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) for Parker’s WBO interim heavyweight belt, according to WBO president Gustavo Olivieri. The winner of that bout will become the mandatory challenger for world heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk.
Below is the current bout order, subject to change. The event can be seen on DAZN pay-per-view and ESPN+ in the U.S., with the card beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET/6:30 a.m. PT. Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 is set to commence at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
–Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol
–Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole (heavyweight)
–Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley (lightweight)
–Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz (middleweight)
–Vergil Ortiz Jr vs. Israil Madrimov (super welterweight)
–Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith (light heavyweight)
–Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel (heavyweight)
–Field Level Media
