Beterbiev v Bivol II: Full Card Analysis

The “greatest card of all time” lived up to the hype as a trilogy surely awaits following an all-time classic between two of the greatest fighters of their generation.

In a contest of such a high skill-level it was scarcely believable at times, Dmitry Bivol rightly came out on top via majority decision against his fellow Russian, Artur Beterbiev. As the fight swung from Bivol to Beterbiev, before swinging decisively back in Bivol’s favour, the 33-year old secured revenge for the one and only defeat of an illustrious career to become the undisputed light-heavyweight champion. It sets up a mouthwatering decider between the two veterans, who are so far ahead of everyone else in the division (other than, possibly, David Benavidez) that it is surely the only fight worth making.

And who wouldn’t want to see this again? In a bout markedly better than an already high-quality first, Bivol nicked the first couple of rounds, after starting the faster of the two once again. But this time, Beterbiev found top gear much faster, relentlessly pressing Bivol to take the next few rounds with his sheer quantity of work. But Bivol too upped his output, putting on a boxing masterclass to skillfully pick off Beterbiev on the backfoot with immense precision. It was a joy to watch Bivol box and move, truly showing the sweet, sweet science at its best to dominate the backend of the contest and secure all the belts coming out on top 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113.

For Beterbiev, you wonder if the trilogy fight might go the way of Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin’s final contest. Beterbiev will be more competitive than GGG was but, at 40, the Russian-Canadian is surely only going to slow down, while Bivol might have finally sussed out the formula to ensure victory. It was the first time cracks began to emerge in Beterbiev’s previously impenetrable armour, as he wasn’t able to maintain the pace he set in the first half of the fight and once again, could not knock out the younger man. Despite this, the third fight will be unmissable and if it can come close to matching this, viewers are in for another treat.

Elsewhere on the card, Callum Smith came out on top in an epic light-heavyweight war with WBO interim champ Joshua Buatsi. It was the sort of performance which turned back on the clocks on a career that was surely heading towards retirement with a defeat here. Coming into the contest, Buatsi was the favourite, having accumulated a 19-0 record without setting the world alight. Smith, on the other hand, arguably hadn’t defeated a competitive fighter since securing a controversial points victory over John Ryder in 2019. Admittedly, he had fought two of the greatest fighters of this generation, Canelo and Beterbiev, since then, but at 34 it seemed as though Smith represented the old guard on his way out to be replaced with the next generation.

Except it is easy to forget Buatsi is already approaching the age of 32 next month. Despite turning professional 8 years ago, shortly after winning bronze at the Rio Olympics, Buatsi’s career has never quite got going. It looked as though last year, this was finally starting to change, as wins over Dan Azeez and Willy Hutchinson secured the WBO interim light-heavyweight title and set the stage for a run of big fights. But, after Saturday night’s loss, you wonder if this all came a bit too late for Buatsi. Losing to Smith, especially in such a rip-roaring contest, is of course nothing to be ashamed of. But the problem is, these two just so happen to be fighting in a division where the top two are simply miles ahead of everyone else. The fact this bout was even for an interim world title was, in all honesty, a bit of a joke, given Bivol and Beterbiev are not inactive. Especially as on the same night the full version of the title was contested.

As for where each fighter goes now, for Buatsi, either the rematch or another domestic dust-up with fellow Londoner Anthony Yarde surely makes most sense. For Smith, although this has revitalised his career, he has been fighting professionally for five years and 13 contests more than Buatsi. Surely, one last shot at a world title or, assuming Bivol and Beterbiev are locked in for a trilogy fight, a big fight in Saudi with David Benavidez, makes most sense. You can only have so many fights like Saturdays in a career. This was Buatsi’s first, whereas Smith was in gruelling contests against Canelo and Beterbiev, so perhaps steering clear of a rematch, unless it can be done as a stadium fight in the UK, is the logical choice.

Joseph Parker overcame Martin Bakole while barely breaking a sweat, with a second round KO of the Congolese behemoth, who had been touted as the bogeyman of the Heavyweight division. In all honesty, there was always a danger this might happen. Despite Bakole’s obvious talent and immense physical stature (he weighed in at a humongous 315lbs on the night), asking any fighter to come in as a replacement for a world-title fight on 48 hours notice, flying halfway round the world, was unlikely to end any other way. Parker has been going from strength-to-strength under the tutelage of Andy Lee, and all the signs in fightweek were of a camp who had total belief they were about to dethrone IBF champ Daniel Dubois. Preparation had clearly been nailed down to a tee. Nutritionist George Lockhart spoke of how Parker had been training at around 2am and going to bed at 5/6am in order to adjust his body to the adjacent time he would be fighting at in Riyadh. By contrast, Bakole had stepped off the third flight of his 3,800 mile-round journey on the morning of the contest, fresh off a building site in the Congo and too late for the official weigh-in. Previously due to fight in May, Bakole clearly wasn’t in fight-ready condition and it showed as Parker completely discombobulated him with a glancing shot to the top of the head that sent Bakole stumbling to the canvas after a delayed reaction.

It is a shame Parker missed out on his world title shot. The New Zealander was in superb condition and would surely have provided Dubois a more than game challenge. Hopefully, this fight is now rescheduled to later this year, but there is a concern the Dubois camp may look to bypass this in favour of a rematch with Oleksander Usyk for all the belts or a second fight with Anthony Joshua. There is surely no man more deserving of a word title shot than Parker.

There was disappointment for Hamzah Sheeraz in his world-title challenge. In a contest that never really got going, Sheeraz was fortunate in the eyes of many to come away with a draw after the cards were read out 115-113 Sheeraz, 114-114 and 118-110 Adames. The Ilford born prospect, who has been consistently hyped by Frank Warren as the next big thing at middleweight, looked unusually cautious compared to the fighter who had a perfect 21-0 record with 17 KOs coming into this contest. Perhaps the pressure of a first world title tilt affected him, or perhaps he was concerned the step-up in opponent required a more conservative approach. Whatever the reason, this wasn’t the Sheeraz we had come to know over the years.

But there is also a more nuanced analysis required. Although unimpressive, Sheeraz was clearly nicking a lot of the early rounds by virtue of utilising his sizeable reach advantage over the Dominican. Post-fight discussion often overlooks the early rounds in favour of the more recent conclusion, which Adames admittedly dominated, but the early rounds do not not count for less than the latter. This was a close fight, despite Adames looking the more impressive, but it would’ve been unjust if the Dominican had not walked away with the belt. Fortunately, as the champion, he retains the title.

You can’t help but shake the feeling that for all the advantages Sheeraz has in height and reach at middleweight, he might be lacking in the strength required to rule the division. There have been no indications he struggles with the weight, but one wonders whether a move up to super-middleweight with an emphasis on putting on some extra muscle might be beneficial.

Agit Kabayel proved once again that he is the dark horse of the division, dispatching “Big Bang” Zhilei Zhang with relative ease with a sixth round KO. Zhang, who has never had the work rate to truly challenge for a world title, surprised Kabayel and onlookers alike by producing a relatively fast start, applying pressure to the agile Kabayel. But with Zhang, you know if you can just avoid that lethal left-hand, you are always going to outwork him. In amongst all the talk about whether Bakole was in sufficient condition to fight, it’s ridiculous there is no mention of the consistently terrible shape Zhang turns up in. Against Parker he barely threw a punch. Against Wilder, he simply barely needed to. Here, Zhang was clearly in better condition than against Parker, but it was still nowhere near enough. After Kabayel started applying pressure in the second, Zhang fell apart. A professional sportsman simply shouldn’t be gassing out so soon into a contest, even allowing for the fact Zhang is approaching 42. The fact it was Kabayel’s work to the body that ultimately undid the giant from China, showed the required fitness levels simply weren’t there. Yet Zhang still produced a brief glimmer the tide might turn, with a flash knockdown of Kabayel in the fifth, before succumbing to the German’s pressure.

No doubt Zhang will get another opportunity if he wants it. His power alone gives any contest he’s involved in an element of jeopardy as again illustrated on Saturday. But he and his team must ask how much he still wants it. The money will no doubt be great, but it's not worth the trade-off for his health if he’s not going to turn up in the required shape.

As for Kabayel, he proved once again he’s a danger to anyone and is surely deserving of a big fight now. The problem is, who would want to fight him? Kabayel gives the likes of Joshua and Whyte serious problems with his workrate and movement. Even a fight with Dubois would hold intrigue, but there are still several ahead of him in the queue for this.

Virgil Ortiz Jr. defeated Ismail Madrimov in an entertaining fight which swung in favour of the American after a strong start from Madrimov. Ortiz Jr. struggled initially with Madrimov’s unorthodox movement, but never stopped pressing his Uzbek opponent and gradually wore him down with shots to the body. As Madrimov tired, the movement slowed and Ortiz Jr. took over in the second half of the bout, winning 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 across the three judges' cards and thus retaining his WBC interim super welterweight title.

Finally on the main card, Josh Padley put on a brave effort on just 72 hours notice against the multiple weight world champion, Shakur Stevenson. Padley’s courage must be seriously applauded, but there isn’t too much else that can be said about this contest. Stevenson gradually wore down the Doncaster electrician to win via 9th round TKO. Stevenson looked classy as usual and will hopefully be involved in a big fight soon.

Over the past 18 months boxing fans have been subjected to a run of previously unthinkable quality fight cards, thanks to an unprecedented level of investment from Saudi Arabia. Whereas previously, a card involving such a high quality main event might come around once every few years and would certainly not feature any particularly notable fights on its undercard, now this a regular occurrence. Saturday’s card was stacked from top-to-bottom, with arguably the fight of the night featuring right near the beginning of the night, between Smith and Buatsi. As another sensational night in Riyadh concluded, eyes were already turning to the promise of a deciding trilogy fight between two all-time greats.