Artur Beterbavin will become the first defense of the undisputed lightweight lightweight championships in a rematch against Dmitry Bivol on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Dazn PPV, 11 am ET).
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO) defeated Bivol by the decision of the majority in October last year to add WBA belt to his WBC, WBO and IBF titles. For the first time, Beterbiev went a distance, ending with his 20-release KO street. Beterbiev took at least one of the lanes from November 11, 2017-imposing seven years of reign as a master. It will be the 10th defense of the IBF Beterbaview title, the seventh defense of the WBC title, the fourth title of WBO and the first WBA belt.
After victory against Bivol, Beterbiev said he was not elated with his performance and that he had to improve.
“I wanted to hurt with greater quality today,” said Beterbiev. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t like this fight. But one day I will be better. “
Bivol (23-1, 12 KO) suffered the first defeat of his professional career against Beterbaview. He landed more blows than Beterbiev (142–137) and was more effective, which is 34% of these blows to just 20% for the Beterbiewal, but that was not enough. He lost through results cards 113-115, 112-116 and 114-114.
“I have another chance,” said Bivol. “Few people have another chance. People like the fight they saw the first time and want to see her again, see me again in the ring. That’s good, I have to work on it. “
Beterbiev is a petite favorite to win a rematch on -120 for the ESPN plant, while Bivol is -105.
In the cooperation event, Daniel Dubois makes a second defense of his IBF heavyweight title against the former champion Joseph Parker. The winner of the fight could fight Oleksander Usyk for the unquestioned championships.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KO) comes out of the dominant victory in the fifth round over the former United Champion Anthony Joshua in September. Dubois knocked down Joshua in rounds 1, 3 and 4 before the end of KO.
Parker (35-3, 23 KO), former heavyweight champion WBO, rides in five fights, including victory in Deontay Wilder in 2023 and Zhilei Zhang in March last year.
According to ESPN Bet Dubois, he is a favorite to defeat Parker.
Let’s look at both fights with the title numbers with ESPN Research and Compubox data.
Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitriry Bivol
23: Combined number of title fights Beterbaview and Bivol (Bivol 13, Beterbav 10).
3: Boxers born in Russia to have at least three world titles (Beterbiev, Kostya Tsyzu and Sergeey Kovalev).
12: Unquestioned men masters in the era of four boxing strips.
1: The undisputed delicate heavyweight master in the era of four stripes. Beterbiev deserved this distinction thanks to the narrow victory over Bivol in October. With the victory in Saturday’s rematch Beterbiv would only become the seventh warrior in the era of four stripes, which effectively defended the unquestioned title.
50%: The percentage of total blows landed through Bivol against Beterbaiev in their first meeting (84 of 168), against only 29% for Beterbalwal (90 of 306). Bivol was also more effective in JAB, it landed from 23% (58 of 255) to just 13% for Beterbaview (47 of 376). Bivol landed 142 of its 423 total blows (34%), to 137 out of 682 (20%) Beterbiv. Beterbiev was a more vigorous warrior, throwing 259 more blows than Beterbiev and showed constant pressure.
33: Power Punches landed through Bivol in the first six rounds of his first fight, against only 23 for Beterbaview. But this was a different story in the last six rounds, in which Beterbiev landed 67 power beats. In the last two rounds, these numbers have been more impressive for Beterbaview, which landed 29 strokes of power 19.
13.8%: The percentage of landings hit Bivol in his 24 professional fights, including his defeat with Beterbieal. Bivol is one of the best defensive fighters in the world. Only the delicate master Shakur Stevenson allows for a lower percentage (13.7%). Bivol will also land on an impressive 8.4 JAB per round. Compare this with 6.0 for Beterbalwal and only 4.6 for Lightweight Heavyweight Division.
8 and 4: The number of rounds, out of 12 rounds that fought during the first meeting, in which Beterbiev and Bivol were separated by four or smaller blows.
30.1%: The percentage of total Beterbavie blows landed for a round – 18.2 of 60.5.
34%: The percentage of total Bivol blows landed at Beterbaiew in the first fight. Beterbiev’s opponents before the fight Bivol landed only 23.2% of their total blows.
65.2: Interest thrown by Bivol – the highest percentage among masters and pretenders to the title.
7: The number of fights for the title on the main card. The Beterbiv-Bivol 2 combat card contains four fights for the main world titles and three fights for momentary titles.
Title fight: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitriry Bivol, 12 rounds, Until the unquestioned lightweight heavyweight championships Beterbiv
Title fight: Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker, 12 rounds, up to the IBF Dubois heavyweight title
Title fight: Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley, 12 rounds, for the delicate title WBC Stevenson WBC
Title fight: Carlos Adams vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, 12 rounds, for the title of Adames’ WBC Middle weighing
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov, 12 rounds, too ponderous momentary title WBC Junior Middle Wweight
Joshua Batsi vs. Callum Smith, 12 rounds, for Batsi’s WBO Lightweight Heavyweight Title
Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel, 12 rounds, too ponderous WBC massive title
95%: Knockout percentage for Beterbiev in his 21 professional fights, the highest among all current masters. After an outstanding amateur career, the Beterbavi changed the pro later than he is typical of a boxet when he moved to Montreal at the age of 28. He enters a rematch against Bivol at the age of 40, which makes him the second oldest, widely recognizable man’s champion. He has 1-2 in three amateur fights with Utyk, the current united heavyweight champion.
Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
3: Dubois’s next wins since his losing from Usyk in August. Dubois won seven (everything over space) of his last eight fights.
5: Parker’s winning series. He also won 11 of the last 12 fights. Parker, a former heavyweight master, comes to five wins, including 11 out of the last 12 years. His only loss at that time was against Joe Joyce in 2022.
5.3: Jabs landed through Dubois to Bivol 3.1 on the round.
38.7%: The percentage of Parker’s blow to the body that landed to just 21.2% for Dubois. The average compubex for heavyweight division is 29.5%.
9.3: Total blows landed by opponents of Dubois. He is also defensively responsible for the power of power landed by his opponents. Parker’s opponents land 28.7% of their blows, 35.3% of their blows. Dubois lands 14.3 strokes to the round (32.2%) compared to 12 for Parker (28.5%).
88%: Percentage of Ko Dubois in his 24 fights. Of his 22 wins, 21 were in space – 95% KO, the highest of all boxers in the ESPN heavyweight list.
Hours after Jai Opetaia said he would defend his IBF cruiserweight title against Brandon Glanton on Sunday while also fighting for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing Championship, the IBF announced it will no longer sanction title defenses.
In a Friday evening statement, the IBF said it had withdrawn sanction for the fight after being misled that Zuffa’s championship would be nothing more than an item that would be “characterized as a trophy or token of recognition.”
At a press conference earlier Friday in Las Vegas, Opetaia said the IBF and Zuffa Boxing titles were on the line in what would be considered a unification fight.
However, Zuffa Boxing is not a sanctioning body recognized by the IBF and “does not adhere to the same mandatory regulations applicable to the organization.”
“An unsanctioned contest is a fight for which the IBF has not formally approved sanction or for which a sanction has been formally withdrawn,” the IBF said in a statement. “If a champion enters an unsanctioned fight within the designated weight limit, the title will be declared vacant regardless of whether the champion wins or loses the fight.”
If Opetaia takes the fight, he will be stripped of his title for a second time; the first was in 2023 when he fought Ellis Zorro instead of his mandatory opponent, Mairis Briedis.
Opetaia signed with Zuffa Boxing in January with the intention of maintaining her undisputed status while competing for her inaugural title.
“We just want to be unchallenged and then spend time with our families,” Opetaia said in a recent interview with ESPN. “We’re talking about it unchallenged. If we’re not here to be unchallenged in this game, then what are we doing?”
“I feel like I was the better player. My reach, distance and speed were kind of better than his,” Stevenson said on The Joe Rogan Experience, recalling the rounds they played during training camp early in his professional career.
Shakur added that Lomachenko’s conditioning and striking were an advantage at the time as the Ukrainian prepared for the fight during camp.
“From the standpoint of being in shape and throwing more punches, I think he was better to some extent,” Shakur said. “He was preparing for his fight and I was preparing for my fight too.”
The sessions took place in 2017, when Lomachenko was preparing to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux. Stevenson, then a juvenile midfielder who had won an Olympic silver medal, was brought into camp as a sparring partner.
Lomachenko entered the professional ranks after one of the most successful amateur careers in boxing history. Unlike Stevenson, who won an Olympic silver medal, Lomachenko won two Olympic gold medals and set a record widely reported as 396 wins and one defeat.
That lone loss came to Russian Albert Selimov in the final of the 2007 World Amateur Featherweight Championship. Lomachenko later avenged this defeat twice in his amateur career, including a victory over Selimov at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Shakur said the experience stuck with him because he felt he was able to hold his own against one of the most respected technicians in the sport at the time.
Looking back, Stevenson stated that he believed Lomachenko may have looked at the situation differently after seeing how Stevenson performed during those rounds.
“If I’m Lomachenko and I know he weighed 126 pounds at the time. He was a kid growing into his 30s,” Stevenson said. “Now I see him grown up, bigger and stronger, and I see what he did as a kid. I would probably test the waters with him. I really wouldn’t want to see that guy.”
The two fighters have never faced each other in the professional ranks, despite competing in nearby divisions for part of their careers.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Loma won world titles in multiple divisions and earned a reputation as one of boxing’s most technically gifted fighters. Since then, Shakur has been on his own path, winning titles in three divisions and establishing himself as one of the most defensively gifted fighters in the sport.
While sparring sessions remain part of boxing history, Stevenson suggested that the experience may facilitate explain why a fight between the two never materialized once both fighters had reached championship level.
Juan Manuel Marquez said it was almost impossible to be among the top 10 Mexican players, but naming the greatest champion his country had ever produced seemed a much easier task.
The Hall of Famer himself is widely considered one of the top 10 Mexican fighters of all time, having won world titles in four weight classes.
Perhaps most importantly, Marquez had four iconic battles with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, ending their last meeting in 2012 with a devastating sixth-round victory.
Elsewhere in his career, “Dinamita” successfully defended his featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight titles several times before calling the shots in 2014 for his 64-fight campaign.
While Marquez is certainly one of the best players his nation has ever produced, a position in the all-time top 10 remains extremely competitive, even for him.
When talking about Mexican champions, the first name that usually comes to mind is Julio Cesar Chavez, who previously had an astonishing 90-fight unbeaten streak. losing to Frank Randall in 1994.
In addition to him, Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate and Salvador Sanchez also deserve mention, although many would consider Canelo Alvarez one of the top 10 Mexican fighters of all time.
In an episode of the ProBox TV podcast, Marquez didn’t give a final top 10, but insisted that Chavez is “without a doubt the best.”
“The history of Mexican boxing is very affluent, it is tough [to list a top 10]. [There’s] Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Lupe Pintor, Salvador Sanchez, just to name a few.
“Because the history of boxing in Mexico is very affluent – [Marco Antonio] Barrera, [Erik] Morales, [Julio Cesar] Chavez – I put myself last. Chavez is without a doubt the best…Ricardo Lopez, Humberto Gonzalez.”
Lopez retired with an undefeated record of 51-0-1 (38 KOs) after becoming a two-time lightweight world champion, while Gonzalez became a three-time delicate flyweight world champion.
Barrera and Morales obviously also deserve to be in the consensus top 10, although that is a debate that will continue for years to come, especially as the country continues to produce outstanding talent.
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