Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev vs Dmitrii Yurievich Bivol II & Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov RBR.

He's 40. He's been boxing a long time.

He trains like a maniac and is always in shape.

That takes its toll.

I would not be surprised if his next fight is his last.

Reflecting on the fight last night, we saw two very high level, closely matched competitors in there.

The difference being one was just a little "fresher" than the other.

It's not easy for any 40-year old boxer to chase down a mover like Bivol for 12 rounds.

 

I don’t think he confidently felt he won the first fight, and realized that there’s not a lot he could’ve done differently in the 2nd fight to win more convincingly.

 

he’s already made enough to retire in luxury from the last two. Pretty easy to see him thinking “enough already”. But, with another massive payday calling, if the man has a family, also pretty easy to see him being like “ugh, ok, I’ll do this one last time, see if I can avenge this loss”.

 

Yep. I think you are right.

 

yeah, second fight he did the one thing he could have changed — he went balls out right from the opening bell. Wasn’t enough. He couldn’t keep up the pace, while Bivol was able to keep it up AND adapt to what Beterbiev was doing. I’m not really sure how Beterbiev can win the rubber match.

 

#2, behind only Usyk vs. Fury I.

 

None of these pretenders should be allowed to call themselves champions until they face Janibek.

 

That's exactly the point isnt it.

Adames is the best fighter for Janibek to take. And if it doesn't happen Adames has to fight someone else in the division.

 

As someone who was backing Bivol, I was very worried during the midrounds and I thought there was a very real chance of Beterbiev getting the stoppage. The way Bivol turned things round during the second half of the fight was masterful; genuinely I have not had so much awe for the skills on display since watching peak Loma or Usyk. I would also like to acknowledge Bivol's supreme conditioning; he absorbed so many shots to the body from Beterbiev that I'm sure would have wilted anyone else in the LHW division, yet Bivol still remained sprite to the very end.

 

I feel like Beterbiev could never establish his jab range. It was always coming up a little short no matter what he just couldn't find a home for it and he would need to really overextend and knew how risky that would be. Its like he realized he shouldn't jump in and it left him just looking lost wandering around unable to adjust. You could see him just standing there at points like "Now what?"

 

Didn't get to post during the RBR so I just wanted to get my scores on record.

Callum Smith over Josh Buatsi 115-113
Agit Kabayel - Zhilei Zhang 47-47 before the knockout
Vergil Ortiz Jr. - Israil Madrimov 114-114
Carlos Adames over Hamzah Sheeraz 115-113
Shakur Stevenson 80-72 over Josh Padley before the corner stoppage.
Joseph Parker 10-9 before the corner stoppage.
Dmitrii Bivol - Artur Beterbiev 114-114

 

Bivol employed the same tactic he used against Canelo: staying in range, absorbing leading punches and then unloading flurries and not allowing Beterbiev to follow up or reset. While dangerous and painful, it was clearly effective.

 

This was billed as perhaps the best boxing card ever. The five scheduled fights were very enjoyable and made for great boxing.

That being said, they would have been better off taking the late replacement bouts off the televised portion of the card. While Padley showed grit and fight the bout with Stevenson was a one-sided farce. Bakole was a farce all by himself. That fight should not have taken place.

All in all a very good card with a fantastic main event.