Who won: Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol

115-113 Beterbiev

 

If this was a robbery then this thread would be pointless and empty because their would be nothing to debate about. This is a very high level fight between two of the best and both have a compelling case for winning. Thats what we want and that's what we got. I scored it 114-114 but I voted for AB winning. My reason is champions finish strong and AB did. Hopefully a rematch will be worked out so we can say AB won chapter1 chapter2 comming soon.

 

Bivol won. Clearly.

 

Although the fight was very tight that could have gone to either fighters favor Beterbiev still deserves full credit for the win. Some things to consider:

Bivol was the favorite going in to the fight.

Beterbiev is 39 pushing 40.

Beterbiev managed to stay composed and not feel frustrated even while he was getting outboxed early.

Beterbiev showed great ring IQ, made adjustments, turned the tides to his favor, slowed Bivol down and finished the fight strong.

For someone that has never seen the final bell throughout his pro career he still retained great stamina up to the last round and even won the 12th.

The fight was fought in a highly technical fight where Beterbiev was fighting an opponent who is known as the superior technician and is undoubtedly the best fighter he's faced. In a fight that was fought at a pace that favors the supposedly better boxer Beterbiev still managed to fight on even terms.

Beterbiev didn't overly rely on his power to beat Bivol and instead had to use his ring smarts and workrate to win.

 

There's some solid analysis in there.

 

Yep. And considering that an over the hill 39 year old Beterbiev fought Bivol on even terms I think that puts to bed the question of who the better fighter is.

 

Bivol won. He just didn't win by 10 rounds like in Canelo fight to get the decision.

 

That would suggest that it wasn't that the judges were biased in favor of Canelo when they fought but that judges are just biased against Bivol for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with his style that the judges do not reward as much as the fans do.

 

Wit such close poll resorts they simply have to run it back!

 

Not seen a fight this close for years. I agree. Run it back.

Beterbiev fancies it, but does Bivol?

 

What other lucrative offers does Bivol have?

Canelo rematch has been off the table & now the table is gone too!

 

Bivol won though it was close. Ultimately comes down to what the judges chose to reward.

 

tells you the level of knowledge and ability to score a fight, that the average user has. gives you an idea how much reliability one can place on a poll, taken at that level, to match reality.