Artur Beterbiev became the first undisputed light heavyweight champion in the four-belt era with a majority-decision victory over Dmitry Bivol on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Beterbiev won by scorecards of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 to add the WBA belt to his WBC, WBO and IBF titles.
Entering the fight, Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) was boxing’s only champion with a 100% KO percentage, but needed to go the 12-round distance for the first time in his career to defeat Bivol. In 2017, Beterbiev defeated Enrico Koelling by 12th-round KO with just :27 seconds to go in the fight.
While Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) outlanded Beterbiev in total punches and jabs — and had big advantage in power punches landed with 50% against only 29% for Beterbiev — he was respectful of the decision.
“I don’t know. I just did my job,” Bivol said after the fight. “I felt that I could have done better. I always could be better. It’s just the opinion of the judges. Congratulations, Artur. … He won. What can I say?”
Even in victory, Beterbiev wasn’t happy with his performance, and was open to a rematch.
“I did not good today,” Beterbiev said. “I wanted to box today with more quality. I don’t know why, but I didn’t like this fight. But I’ll be better one day. …If [Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority] wants [a rematch] then we can do it.”
Our panelists also saw a close fight and while most moved Beterbiev up on their list, they also kept Bivol high.
“I scored the fight for Bivol but it was close enough that it makes sense to respect the result here and move Beterbiev above him,” said ESPN boxing insider Mike Coppinger. “And with Bivol’s resounding victory over Canelo Alvarez [in 2022] and the razor-thin loss Saturday, there’s no reason to move him any lower.”
ESPN boxing writer Nick Parkinson said that the matchup was a high-quality fight with both boxers displaying technical brilliance and precision punching, and he decided to keep Bivol above Beterbiev on his list, despite the result.
“Like a lot of people I was expecting Bivol’s hand to be raised at the end, despite Beterbiev’s strong finish,” Parkinson said. “I thought Bivol showed his quality against Beterbiev, and deserved the decision. This, along with the fact that Bivol has also beaten Canelo Alvarez, puts him ahead of Beterbiev for me.
“Had Beterbiev maintained his 100% KO ratio and stopped Bivol, it wouldn’t be a discussion. But Bivol has twice produced a strong performance in huge fights — Beterbiev has done it once versus Bivol, and in my opinion he wasn’t better than Bivol last Saturday.”
After all the votes were counted, Beterbiev moves to the No. 4 spot, while Bivol falls two places to No. 6. With a lot of votes going to Beterbiev, and some panelists voting him higher than Naoya Inoue, the tie at No. 2 between Inoue and Terence Crawford was broken.
Monday in Tokyo, WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani retained his title with a sixth-round TKO victory over Petch Sor Chitpattana. Nakatani (29-0, 22), who has been on the outside looking in for the last few months, finally makes the list at No. 10. Nakatani has won world titles in three divisions.
Our panel of Coppinger, Timothy Bradley, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Claudia Trejos, Bernardo Osuna, Crystina Poncher, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez and Damian Delgado Averhoff shares its votes.
More ESPN rankings: Divisional rankings and women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Oct. 17.
RECORD: 22-0, 14 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Tyson Fury, May 18
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 21 vs. Tyson Fury
RECORD: 40-0, 31 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Israil Madrimov, Aug. 3
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 28-0, 25 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO7) Luis TJ Doheny, Sept. 3
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 24 vs. Sam Goodman
RECORD: 21-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (MD12) Dmitry Bivol, Oct. 12
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 62-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Edgar Berlanga, Sept. 14
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 23-1, 12 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight
LAST FIGHT: L (MD12) Artur Beterbiev, Oct. 12
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Junior bantamweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Juan Francisco Estrada, June 29
NEXT FIGHT: Nov. 9 vs. Pedro Guevara
RECORD: 30-0, 28 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO8) Frank Martin, June 15
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 22-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Artem Harutyunyan, July 6
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
RECORD: 29-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Tasana Salapat, Oct. 14
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
The rankings are based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote awarding 10 points, a second-place vote awarding nine points and so on. A tie goes to the fighter with the highest ranking, then the one with the most votes at that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (17), David Benavidez (7), Tyson Fury (7), Vasiliy Lomachenko (5), Devin Haney (1).
Bradley: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3: Inoue, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Alvarez, 6. Rodriguez, 7. Davis, 8. Bivol, 9. Lopez, 10. Stevenson
Coppinger: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Crawford, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Nakatani, 10. Haney
Atlas: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Davis, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Alvarez, 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
Tessitore: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Beterbiev, 4. Inoue, 5. Rodriguez, 6. Nakatani, 7. Bivol, 8. Alvarez, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Parkinson: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Crawford, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Nakatani, 10. Lomachenko
Raskin: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Crawford, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Benavidez
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Usyk, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Nakatani
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Lopez, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Phelps: 1. Usyk, 2. Alvarez, 3. Crawford, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Inoue, 6. Bivol, 7. Fury, 8. Lopez, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Crawford, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Alvarez, 6. Davis, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Bivol, 9. Nakatani, 10. Stevenson
Trejos: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Lopez
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Stevenson, 8. Lopez, 9. Benavidez, 10. Bivol
Moynihan: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Stevenson, 9. Benavidez, 10. Nakatani
Pilatti: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Crawford, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Davis, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Nakatani, 9. Benavidez, 10. Fury
Zirolli: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Stevenson, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Lopez, 10. Nakatani
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Rodriguez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Davis, 9. Lopez, 10. Nakatani
Freeman: 1.Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Rodriguez, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Nakatani, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Usyk, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Nakatani
Delgado Averhof: 1. Inoue, 2. Usyk, 3. Beterbiev, 4. Crawford, 5. Alvarez, 6. Rodriguez, 7. Davis, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Lopez
First place: Usyk (12), Crawford (4), Inoue (3)
Second place: Crawford (8), Inoue (7), Usyk (3), Alvarez (1)
Third place: Inoue (7), Crawford (6), Usyk (4), Beterbiev (2)
Fourth place: Beterbiev (9), Alvarez (4), Bivol (2), Crawford (1), Inoue (1), Rodriguez (1), Stevenson (1)
Fifth place: Beterbiev (7), Bivol (5), Alvarez (3), Rodriguez (2), Inoue (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Bivol (7), Alvarez (5), Davis (3), Rodriguez (2), Beterbiev (1), Nakatani (1)
Seventh place: Rodriguez (9), Alvarez (3), Davis (3), Bivol (1), Stevenson (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Davis (7), Bivol (3), Lopez (3), Alvarez (2), Nakatani (2), Rodriguez (1), Stevenson (1)
Ninth place: Stevenson (7), Nakatani (3), Lopez (3), Benavidez (3), Davis (2), Fury (1)
10th place: Nakatani (5), Stevenson (4), Davis (2), Lopez (2), Bivol (1), Rodriguez (1), Benavidez (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1), Haney (1)