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.
World Boxing News provides live results and updates from Dublin as Pierce O’Leary faces Mark Chamberlain at super lightweight.
Queensberry Promotions returns to the 3Arena with an action-packed card headed by the unbeaten Irish star O’Leary, who meets former British champion Chamberlain in the main event.
The undercard also features Gary Cully, Reece Bellotti, Sean McComb, Steven Cairns, Ben Fail and several unbeaten Irish prospects.
Pierce O’Leary vs Mark Chamberlain Results
Times are Local – IST
17:46
Gary Cully stopped Lee Reeves in the tenth round to improve to 20-2.
Cully overcame a fifth-round point deduction for repeatedly losing his gumshield before dropping Reeves twice in the final round to force the stoppage.
The victory marked Cully’s 11th knockout win as a professional.
17:01
Sean McComb returned with a comfortable six-round points victory over Miguel Antin.
McComb won every round on the referee’s scorecard, claiming a 60-54 decision to improve his record to 22-2.
16:31
Machlan Arthur improved to 2-0 with his second straight knockout by stopping Ryan Frost in the fourth round.
Arthur dropped Frost twice in the final session before the referee waved the contest off at 1:05 of round four.
Remaining Bouts
• Pierce O’Leary vs Mark Chamberlain – IBO World Super Lightweight Title (12)
• Royston Barney-Smith vs Reece Bellotti – Vacant IBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Title (10)
• Gary Cully vs Lee Reeves – Super Lightweight (10)
• Steven Cairns vs Senan Kelly – Super Lightweight (10)
• Ben Fail vs Craig O’Brien – Super Welterweight (10)
• Bobbi Flood vs Tariq Davis – Super Welterweight (6)
• Adam Olaniyan vs Jonathan Claudio Sauco – Heavyweight (4)
• John Joe Carrigan vs Sean Murray – Super Welterweight (4)
• Sami Hamed vs Bela Istvan Orban – Super Welterweight (4)
Queensberry
Preview
Pierce O’Leary tops a major night of boxing in Dublin as the unbeaten Irishman takes on Mark Chamberlain for the IBO World super lightweight title.
O’Leary enters the contest looking to continue his rise through the rankings against the experienced Chamberlain, who aims to return to winning ways after a draw in his third outing since suffering the lone defeat of his professional career.
The chief support sees Royston Barney-Smith meet Reece Bellotti for the vacant IBO Inter-Continental super featherweight title.
Gary Cully also returns in an intriguing domestic clash with fellow unbeaten Irishman Lee Reeves, while Steven Cairns faces Senan Kelly in another all-Irish encounter.
Sean McComb, Ben Fail, Bobbi Flood, Adam Olaniyan, Machlan Arthur, John Joe Carrigan and Sami Hamed also feature on the Queensberry Promotions card.
Updates will be added below as the action unfolds in Dublin, with more live coverage on World Boxing News.
About the Author
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.
Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan has named one half of the main event between Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn as the “dangerman” at 147lbs.
The two welterweights will collide at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, with Garcia making a first defence of his WBC world title.
He claimed the belt by dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory in February, which followed his surprising points loss to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Interestingly enough, this defeat came shortly after his year-long doping ban, which he served on account of testing positive for ostarine ahead of his majority decision victory over Devin Haney.
The result of their showdown was then ruled a no-contest, with Garcia subsequently moving up to welterweight after failing to keep below the 140lb limit.
It now seems the 27-year-old is competing at a more natural weight while Benn, who tested positive for clomifene in 2022, has not made 147lbs since his second-round finish over Chris van Heerden that same year.
Speaking with talkSPORTIrish boxing icon McGuigan suggested that this – as well as the 29-year-old’s technical flaws – could prove a major factor against Garcia.
“[Benn’s] got that genetic code from his dad, and he’s got that explosiveness and everything else. But he is predictable – you can see when he’s going to throw.
“You ask yourself: is Garcia just a little bit too sharp for him? A little bit too cute. I think Garcia’s finally found the weight he’s most suitable [for]. I think he’s a dangerman at 147[lbs].
“Maybe Conor Benn has left it a little too late to make 147[lbs] again. I think that could be his Achilles’ heel. I make Garcia a slight favourite but would never write off Conor Benn – he’s got that fighting heart.”
Benn comes off a unanimous decision victory over Regis Prograis in April, which followed his two middleweight encounters with Chris Eubank Jr last year.
Devin Haney’s immediate future has been thrown into uncertainty after Keyshawn Davis pulled out of their mandated contest on Friday.
The pair had been ordered to collide for Haney’s WBO world title, with Davis having been named as the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger at 147lbs.
Multiple reports then suggested that the 27-year-old was offered $3m by Top Rank, his promoter, only for ‘The Businessman’ to reject what would have been a career-high payday.
Subsequently, their bout went to a purse bit hearing, where Top Rank trumped Teofimo Lopez’s Takeover Promotions with a sum of $8,550,000.
This therefore gave Bob Arum’s outfit the promotional rights and, as per the usual 75/25 split in favour of the defending champion, Davis would have been entitled to a share of $2,137,500.
Since Thursday’s auction, though, Davis has excluded himself from the fight and left Haney without an obvious opponent for his first welterweight title defence.
Taking to social mediaWBO president Gustavo Olivieri explained that his organisation must now provide their champion with a solution.
“The WBO hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid proceedings and, accordingly, will NOT participate in the WBO welterweight mandatory championship contest against Devin Haney.
“In light of the foregoing, the WBO Championship Committee and Ratings Committee will convene to proceed in accordance with the WBO world championship rules and regulations. The applicable ruling will be rendered and published in due course.”
Re: WBO Welterweight Participant Keyshawn Davis
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) hereby confirms receipt of written notice from counsel on behalf of Mr. Keyshawn Davis advising that he will NOT accept the 25% purse split adjudicated pursuant to the official WBO purse bid…
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) July 31, 2026
At this stage, it remains to be seen whether Haney will be immediately ordered to face a new mandatory challenger or, given the situation, have the opportunity to make a voluntary defence.
Either way, the 27-year-old has not fought since dethroning Brian Norman Jr in November and is surely eager to return to action.
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