Artur Beterbiev makes the first defense of his undisputed light heavyweight championship against Dmitry Bivol, in the main event of a jam-packed boxing card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday (DAZN PPV, 10:30 a.m. ET)
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) unified all four major titles with a majority decision victory against Bivol in October. Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) started strong, but he faded at the end. Beterbiev won the last three rounds in all three judges’ scorecards to win 115-113, 116-112 and 114-114 in a very entertaining bout.
Unlike the first fight, Beterbiev enters Saturday’s rematch as a slight favorite (-120 per ESPN BET). Beterbiev has held at least one of the belts since Nov. 11, 2017 — an incredible seven-plus-year reign as a champ.
Also on the card, former heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and top contender Martin Bakole will meet for the WBO heavyweight interim title. Parker was scheduled to face IBF champ Daniel Dubois, but Dubois was forced to withdraw due to illness Thursday.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs), won the WBO belt in 2016 after defeating Andy Ruiz Jr. He made two defenses before losing a unanimous decision to Anthony Joshua in March 2018. Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) scored an upset of Jared Anderson back in August with a fifth-round KO victory in Los Angeles.
To complete the seven-card main card, Shakur Stevenson takes on late replacement Josh Padley for Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title. Carlos Adames puts his WBC middleweight belt on the line against Hamzah Sheeraz, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Israil Madrimov will fight for the vacant WBC junior middleweight interim title. There are also two fight for interim titles. Joshua Buatsi defends his WBO light heavyweight interim belt against Callum Smith, and Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel will battle for the vacant WBC heavyweight interim title.
Stay here for live updates, results and round-by-round analysis from Riyadh.
