I re-watched the first Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol fight and was shocked by a huge error I made on fight night

Published: Feb 19, 2025

One of, if not the most contentious issue in boxing is judges’ scorecards.

When it comes to a big fight, there always fears over whether the three judges ringside tasked with scoring the fight are competent enough to do their job and delivering the verdict which fans, fighters and experts are happy with.

The undisputed light heavyweight title fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in October was a contest which kept everyone watching on the edge of their seats. The two pound-for-pound greats played out a thrilling 12-round chess match. Come the final bell, it was difficult to call who had won.

The legendary Michael Buffer then announced that it would be Beterbiev who would be crowned the undisputed light heavyweight champion with a majority decision verdict, which prompted an outcry from those in Bivol’s corner.

The most notable among those who disagreed with the result was Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn who called for one of the judges that night to be sacked!

Watching the fight live that night and reporting for DAZN News, I too had scored the contest in Beterbiev’s favour with a 115-114 card and I decided in the build-up to the rematch to re-watch the original fight once more to see whether I would score it differently and potentially come out with a different victor.

Following second viewing, I had a different outcome, this time awarding the win to Bivol with a 115-113 scorecard.

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A different winner, but why?

To be totally transparent, this was the first time since fight night I have had the chance to properly sit down and watch the first Beterbiev-Bivol fight again.

Unlike a number of boxing personalities, I did not decide to go in a dark room, commentary muted, soundtracked by calming ocean noises on my second watch. I instead replicated how I watched the fight the first time with the commentary on.

Comparing notes from my second and first viewings of the contest, it was largely the same for the first four rounds, Bivol’s jab standing out and Beterbiev kept quiet, albeit for the odd right hand.

Then round six is where a difference begins to appear. When I watched the fight live, it was Beterbiev’s attempts to seize control of centre ring which caught my eye, however, this time around, Bivol’s cleaner shots resulted in me giving him the round rather than Beterbiev.

Beterbiev’s thumping influence

As I continued to compare notes and scores, it’s clear that the whole experience of reporting on a fight ‘live’ does cloud the senses.

When trying to give an accurate account of what is transpiring inside the ring, you are always trying to look for any slight flaws or moments which could play a part in determining the winner, and unfortunately, certain things do go astray.

The most obvious thing which influenced my ‘live’ viewing was the sound of Beterbiev’s punches.

Despite Bivol throwing 142 punches compared to Beterbiev’s 137 according to Compubox, it felt like Beterbiev was throwing and landing more.

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Beterbiev was willing to let his hands go as the fight progressed, and this would have certainly caught the attention of the judges scoring at ringside.

But it would not be just Beterbiev’s activity which got their attention, the sound of his punches are likely to have been influential as well.

On the second watch, it was clear to me that despite Beterbiev punches possessing an audible thump, more often than not they were landing on either Bivol’s gloves or arms and not scoring.

However, on fight night, due to the close nature of the contest and deciding to award a round to, the sound of Beterbiev’s punches tricked me into thinking he was doing the more effective work.

Bivol’s gameplan kept him in control and Beterbiev at bay

So what made the difference between my two viewings of Beterbiev versus Bivol?

It was being aware of Bivol’s more clinical work inside the ring in Riyadh. While Beterbiev frequently came forward and let his hands go, a lot of the time his efforts were being absorbed by Bivol, who defended himself adequately against one of boxing’s most feared punchers.

Combined with his slick footwork and jab, Bivol was able to frustrate Beterbiev and largely avoid any of the threats posed. Bivol’s jab allowed him to keep Beterbiev at bay, along with creating opportunities of his own to land scoring punches and this was evident in the Compubox stats.

Read next | 'A hundred-and-fifty percent!' - Dmitry Bivol ready to push past limits in Artur Beterbiev rematch

According to the famed record keeper, Beterbiev landed just 20.1% of his punches while Bivol landed 33.6%, a sizable difference and this difference was clear to see when re-living the first contest.

Re-watching the contest has further heightened my excitement for an epic rematch, which as far as I’m concerned is round 13 from that October night in Riyadh.

As proven in the first bout - and my rewatching of it - you should not take your eyes off it and fight fans will not miss a single second of the rematch live on DAZN PPV.

Watch Beterbiev vs Bivol and Dubois vs Parker live on DAZN PPV

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