Who won: Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol

I agree, but casuals probably didn't see the subtleties of the match...it wasn't a slugfest.

 

Whoever you choose you wouldn't be wrong. This fight a battle of a couple top notch opponents who were well prepared to deal with each other. I would love to see it again. Maybe a trilogy. I'm a huge fan of both. I don't know how much longer Beterbiev will bless the ring though as he's hinted hanging up the gloves in the past.

 

This is my Round by Round Scoring of the fight, where i gave Beterbiev the benefit of the doubt and gave him some close Rounds, where Bivol landed the cleaner shots, but Beterbiev output was higher and was aggressive.

Round 1 - Bivol clear - big round
Round 2 - Bivol clear - big round
Round 3 - Bivol clear
Round 4 - Beterbiev close
Round 5 - Beterbiev close
Round 6 - Bivol clear
Round 7 - Bivol clear
Round 8 - Bivol
Round 9 - Bivol clear - big round
Round 10 - Beterbiev clear - big round
Round 11 - Beterbiev clear - big round
Round 12 - Bivol clear

The fight was 8-4, but was given to the wrong fighter. While the fight was competitive and somehow close, that doesn't mean it didn't have clear winner and the fight wasn't robbery, as that what it was, a highway robbery.
Bivol won that fight 8-4 and i don't see any rounds that was clear Bivol rounds that could go to Beterbiev. He was just outlanded and Bivol show masterful boxing display.

 

Lmao ok mate.

 

Curious to see how you feel about round 10 on rewatch.

It’s bookended by long periods of stalking pressure from beterbiev, with lots of hard looking shots that mostly land on the gloves. Then there’s a very bright spot in the middle for Bivol, where he lands a clean combination.

In a way, it’s the most revealing round, if you want to know what somebody likes when they’re scoring fights.

 

Well, the world is split roughly 50/50 as to who won the fight, and most would accept a draw, which suggests we shouldn't be yelling at eachother too much. Good fighters, good fight. However the different reasons consistently cited by people to reinforce their arguments as to why particular guy won are very telling.

Beterbiev scorers reasons:

Beterbiev was aggressive
Bivol moved
The optics tho
“It was frustrating”
Beterbiev hits harder.
Beterbiev is 39
Beterbiev had a knee injury
Bivol held a few times
Beterbiev would have knocked him out 5 years ago
“Pitty pat punches”
Bivol was on the back foot
Beterbiev is the Khabib of boxing
Look at Bivols face
Beterbiev won the championship rounds
Beterbiev “walked through his punches”
Beterbiev set the pace
Bivol wasn't active enough
There is no god but Allah
Beterbiev looks so tough


Bivol scorers reasons:

Bivol won more rounds through clean effective punching

 

Bivol was ripped off

 

The most common reason I've seen given by those who thought Beterbiev won was he won more rounds.

 

Rewatching round 7 all of Beterbiev's punches at the end landed on gloves. That was actually a clear Bivol round.

 

I can understand the logic behind those who scored it for Bivol. He landed the cleaner punches. And I scored it for Beterbiev. Because he was the dominant man that night. His punches consistently forced Bivol to retreat because they hurt him.

 

Can any of you Beterbiev guys admit you're just assuming this. You're literally just using your imagination here.

 

There are no Beterbiev guys, the boxer isn't a big enough name to have biased fanboys. Neither is Bivol.

The debate on this fight is an example of how subjective boxing is, because people are arguing about what they've seen, now what they wanted to see.

 

I’d question the boxing intelligence of anyone who has a huge issue with 115-113 either side or draw. It’s one thing believing either fighter won the fight, it’s a lack of understanding not being able to comprehend why someone else might have a different opinion on that fight. The 116-112 scorecard, I believe was outside expected variance, and that’s has given license to this ‘robbery’ nonsense.

I personally thought Beterbiev won but could have scored it a draw. It’s so much about what you like. Just for ease, anyone can reasonably say that Bivol won first three and Beterbiev the last three, so it then depends hugely on what you like in those middle six rounds, which were close.

I personally felt that Beterbiev had more control in the fight from R3 onwards and was landing the more damaging shots. He had more impact on Bivol than the other way around and gradually became increasingly dominant - but the fight did have mini swings. So I was happier to give Beterbiev more of those swing rounds. I wouldn’t ever use punch stats to score a fight but they are an indicator - shots landed are very even. While Beterbiev throwing 250 more shots could be viewed as wasteful etc, I personally think a lot of those shots landing on gloves, arms, shoulders etc, damaged Bivol. At the end of the fight he was in survival mode.

Now if you prefer Bivol’s flashy, eye catching, jab and flurries off the jab and overall efficiency, then fine.

But either way, there was no robbery. If you can’t understand how Beterbiev won, or how people think Bivol won - then with all due disrespect you probably need to give your head a shake.