By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America
The past year, boxing has been blessed with some great fights, first there was the two Usyk-Fury in which Usyk narrowly beat Tyson and this past weekend, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol finished their second bout and this time Bivol came out on top. Both Beterbiev and Bivol fights were tight close fights, but this fight saw Bivol winning many of the later rounds, rounds that Beterbiev won in their first fight.
Bivol won the first three rounds as his jab and boxing skills dominated as it did in the first three rounds in their first fight, but Beterbiev turned on a switch as he forced the action and landing solid shots in the both the fourth and fifth round. Beterbiev landed 37 punches to Bivol 26 punches plus 24 of those punches were power shots and Bivol only landed 7 power shots. The sixth round was close while I gave it to Bivol, Beterbiev landed several right hands and both fighters landed similar numbers
I had 58 to 56 for Bivol but others had the fight even, which was reasonable. Bivol countered Beterbiev in the seventh round and in the eighth round, Bivol dominated with his own body shots and in the ninth round, Bivol slipped Beterbiev and then turned the table as he landed three shots and by this point, Beterbiev was not hurting Bivol. I had the fight 88 to 83 in favor of Bivol.
The tenth round was close and Beterbiev landed more punches and with two rounds left, the fight was 97-93 on my card.
The eleventh round was another Bivol dominated round and Beterbiev looked on wobbling legs after receiving barrage of shots. The twelfth-round saw Beterbiev landed a solid shot that shook Bivol and gave all he had and while he may have captured the final round, this was Bivol fight. I had the fight 116-112.
The first fight was close as Bivol landed 142 punches to Beterbiev 137 but this fight, Bivol landed 170 punches to Beterbiev 121. Bivol landed more punches in nine of the twelfth rounds, landed more power shots than the power slugging Beterbiev while he landed double the jabs.
There looks like a third fight in the trilogy and in the first fight, Beterbiev came on strong but in this bout from seventh round, Bivol landed 82 punches to Beterbiev 47 punches. Bivol landed 44 power shots with 24 in the eleventh round versus 31 power shots landed by Beterbiev.
What may have been a factor is that Beterbiev is 40 years old and Bivol only 34, so Bivol is the younger fighter, and this will be advantage in a third fight. Regardless, this was a good fight as both fighters showed that they are the best lightweight fighters and would love to see a trilogy.
