Beterbiev To Hearn: “Always Something”

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Artur Beterbiev wasn’t pleased hearing about Dmitry Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, commenting that he didn’t agree with the decision of their previous fight on October 12th. Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) looked annoyed, saying that Hearn always has something he doesn’t “agree with.”

Hearn had a conniption fit after the unified three-belt light heavyweight champion Beterbiev defeated his fighter, WBA champ Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), ruining his plans for a lucrative rematch with Canelo Alvarez. How many chances is Bivol going to get if he loses again and is given another fight against Beterbiev?

He didn’t want to fight when the going got tough last time and ran when things got hot for him. While some fans think Bivol should have won the first fight with Beterbiev, they clearly formed their opinions after the first five rounds because his white flag of surrender was up from the sixth round on. He had no fight in him and turned tail and ran from the sixth on. Hearn helped muddy the water by complaining nonstop about the decision, but Bivol clearly lost.

I know there was a lot of money at stake had Bivol won because there would have been a fight against Canelo. If Bivol had won, do you honestly believe Beterbiev would have been given an immediate rematch?

No way on Earth. It would have been Canelo vs. Bivol 2. As for Beterbiev, he’d have had to work his way back to a title shot by fighting the winner of the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell fight, because he’s not as well-connected as Bivol.

Will Beterbiev Spoil Things?

Hearn had hoped that Bivol could capture Beterbiev’s three titles and use the undisputed 175-lb championship as a fish lure to get Canelo to move up to face him. Beterbiev wrecked everything by relentlessly attacking the timid boxer Bivol, chasing him around the ring for the final six rounds to win a 12-round majority decision by the scores 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114.

I agreed with the 8-4 score for Beterbiev, but it was amusing, if not predictable, that Hearn threw a fit afterward, complaining that Bivol deserved the win. He hadn’t. The only way you could give Bivol the win is if the judges stopped scoring the bout after six rounds. If this were a six-rounder, Bivol would win easily.

Hearn’s fighter, Bivol, gets another chance against Beterbiev in their rematch on February 22nd in Riyadh. If Bivol can’t win this fight, it’s a waste of time to have a trilogy. If Bivol wins, he’ll have the titles to lure Canelo. If that fight doesn’t happen, there’s always the trilogy with Beterbiev that Bivol can fall back on.

If he loses on points, Hearn will probably scream bloody murder and complain that Bivol deserved the win again.

It’ll be interesting to see if Turki Al-Sheikh sympathizes with Hearn’s complaints and gives Bivol another undeserving third fight instead of giving the David Beterbiev vs. David Morrell winner a chance at Artur. U.S. fans want to see some new blood in there with Beterbiev instead of seeing the runner, Bivol getting nonstop chances. 

“Yeah, he did a good job. We can say toughest fight,” said Artur Beterbiev to BoxNation when asked if Dmitry Bivol is the toughest fight of his career so far. “Eddie Hearn always not agree with something,” said Beterbiev, reacting to being told that Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, did not agree with the decision from their previous fight on October 12th. “It’s always something.

“I’m honored to be the main event in this card. Big fight, they do. It was a good experience. Amazing, they did a good job for boxing,” said Beterbiev about the Saudis.

“It was a good fight; it was good for boxing fans,” said Bivol to BoxNation about his previous fight against Beterbiev. “It wasn’t the best fight I had, and it was a good lesson for me. I learned a lot from this fight, and I have to improve myself. I like to fight in Riyadh because they make beautiful events, great events. Every fighter wants this, and I’m looking forward to coming back.

“Of course, every camp is different, and we made some changes also, which I will talk about after the fight. I’m glad I have this chance,” said Bivol.




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