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.
Zab Judah has made a bold prediction ahead of tonight’s world title battle between Rolly Romero and Teofimo Lopez.
Romero defends his WBA welterweight title against Lopez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this evening, competing for the first time since his unanimous decision victory over Ryan Garcia in May 2025.
Lopez is attempting to become a three-division world champion after previously holding world honours at lightweight and super-lightweight, but his reign at 140lbs came to an end in January when he lost his WBO crown to Shakur Stevenson.
One man who knows what it is like to be world champion at both 140lbs and 147lbs is Judah, who notably became undisputed at welterweight back in 2005.
Speaking to MillCity BoxingJudah revealed that he is backing Romero to claim the upset victory tonight and successfully defend his belt against Lopez.
“In the past when we’ve seen Rolly in preparation for a fight, he was always on the internet saying crazy s**t, doing crazy things, this time we don’t see any of that. He’s locked in, he’s training, and I predict that Rolly Romero is going to beat Teofimo Lopez.
“From what I’ve been hearing about him in training, he’s been doing good and knocking people out.”
The winner of tonight’s bout has already been linked to a unification fight against the victor of the upcoming WBC welterweight title fight between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn, while there are also possible match-ups with WBO champion Devin Haney or IBF champion Liam Paro.
Former undisputed champion Antonio Tarver has considered the keys to victory, while also offering a prediction, for both Teofimo Lopez and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero.
The pair will collide at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in the early hours of tomorrow morning, with Romero making a first defence of his WBA world title.
He was upgraded to full welterweight champion last year, having claimed the ‘regular’ belt by dropping and unanimously outpointing Ryan Garcia in May 2025.
After that, Rolly had been in talks with Devin Haney and Conor Benn, only to incur over a year of inactivity and agree to face Lopez instead.
Entering their showdown as a slight favourite, ‘The Takeover’ has moved up to 147lbs and is bidding to become a three-weight world champion.
Unlike Romero, though, Lopez is coming off a surprisingly one-sided points defeat to Shakur Stevensonwho dethroned him for the WBO super-lightweight title in January.
It is therefore difficult to predict which version of the 29-year-old will turn up, yet Hall of Famer Tarver has nonetheless told Fight Hub TV that he is backing Lopez.
“[it will be] high volume if Teo looks to win this thing impressively. He’s going to have to let his hands go, and Rolly’s going to have to try and catch him in the mix of all that.
“I don’t think Rolly can outbox Teo round after round; I think Rolly has to do something big – hurt him with something, knock him down and maybe even stop him.
“Smart money [is on Lopez]. It’s difficult to have your way with [Romero]; you have to be somewhat of a real, elite fighter. We still believe Teo, at his best, has those types of attributes.”
Many would agree that a points decision is Lopez’ clearest route to victory, while Romero may need to make use of his power and engineer an inside-the-distance finish.
Evander Holyfield was unsure who to favour in a fantasy showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and one of his former rivals.
Like Holyfield, Usyk became the consensus top dog at 200lbs before moving up to heavyweight and, once again, cementing himself as the very best.
Even while contending with a notable size disadvantage, the Ukrainian was able to dethrone Anthony Joshua before eventually becoming the undisputed king against Tyson Fury.
Having twice beaten the two Brits, Usyk is now widely regarded as one of the all-time greats, among the likes of HolyfieldMuhammad Ali and Joe Louis.
At the same time, though, Holyfield is not convinced that the unbeaten southpaw would have defeated a prime Mike Tyson.
‘The Real Deal’ fought ‘Iron’ Mike in 1996, causing a sizable upset by stopping the formidable puncher in round 11, before winning their immediate rematch via an infamous third-round disqualification.
And while this was not even the most formidable version of Tyson, Holyfield would nonetheless back his former foe to defeat the majority of heavyweights throughout history.
When it comes to a clash with Usyk, however, the American has told Daily Mail Boxing that he would struggle to predict a winner.
“I don’t exactly know [who would win] that one.”
Like Usyk, Tyson was never the biggest heavyweight but, because of his speed and explosiveness he was able to win his first 19 fights by knockout and become a dominant world champion during the late 1980s.
Usyk, on the other hand, relies more on his technical prowess and, against Tyson, would need to be almost punch-perfect in order to emerge victorious.
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