After Defeating Beterbiev What’s Next For Dmitry Bivol, Trilogy                    Fight Or Benavidez?

On Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a thrilling rematch for the undisputed light-heavyweight crown took place as Dmitry Bivol defeated Artur Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) by way of majority decision.

This fight had all the elements you expect to see in an elite level championship match. This fight had strategical moves, fan friendly action, and multiple momentum shifts. Four months ago, Artur Beterbiev gave Dmitry Bivol his first career loss, and on the night of February 22nd Bivol returned the favor.

In the opening round in the battle for undisputed, the majority of the action took place in the center of the ring as both Beterbiev and Bivol tried to establish the jab. Beterbiev came out in the second round with the intent of being more aggressive, but when he pressed forward, Bivol connected with a right hand counter shot on multiple occasions.

In the third round every time Beterbiev landed one big heavy shot, Bivol would respond by throwing a three or four punch combination. Beterbiev was dominant in round 4 as he pressed forward and landed heavy right hand shots throughout the round.

In the 5th round Beterbiev continued to connect with the right hand to the head and body of Bivol. At the midpoint of the fifth, Bivol caught Beterbiev with a clean right-hand counter shot, but Beterbiev ended the round by landing a couple of solid combinations.

Bivol used his jab to set up his combinations during the first 90 seconds of the sixth round, but Beterbiev finished the round on a strong note as he backed Bivol against the ropes and landed hard rights and lefts. Bivol controlled the pace for rounds 7 through 9 with movement, his jab, and his combination punching.

Similar to the first fight, Artur Beterbiev found himself in a position where he had to rally down the stretch. Beterbiev did some nice work to end the fight, but this time, he fell short as the judges scored the bout (114-114, 116-112, and 115-113) in favor of Dmitry Bivol.

With the victory, Dmitry Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) avenged his only career loss and achieved his dream of becoming an undisputed world champion. Now, the question that everyone loves to ask at the conclusion of a big fight is what’s next for the new undisputed world light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol?

An obvious choice for Dmitry Bivol would be a trilogy fight with Artur Beterbiev. With his big win on Saturday night, Bivol even the score, and now a rubber match can determine the overall winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev series.

Another intriguing option would be an undisputed light-heavyweight title bout between Dmitry Bivol and David Benavidez. The undefeated David Benavidez was the number one contender at 168 for two years, but the champion Canelo Alvarez managed to avoid him.

Knowing he would never receive an opportunity to fight for the title, David Benavidez moved up to 175. After posting unanimous decision victories over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell, Benavidez has proven himself as a legitimate light-heavyweight title contender.

The past few years the 34-year-old Dmitry Bivol has been very active, and at the post-fight press conference, Bivol hinted at taking time off to rest and heal a few minor nagging injuries. As of now, Bivol is the king of the light-heavyweights and he has many options, but we will have to sit back and wait to see what his next move will be.