Anthony Yarde was one of many who felt that Artur Beterbiev deserved the victory over Dmitry Bivol in their rematch last Saturday night at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yarde says he had it either Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) by one round or a draw. The judges gave it to Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision with scores 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114.
Crowd Influence
The 8-4 score by the American judge in favor of Bivol surprised many people, as it was way too wide for a fight that appeared to be either a draw or a narrow win. Yarde notes that the entire arena was “pro-Bivol.” That may have impacted the judges’ scores.
Even the DAZN commentators seemed to be pro-Bivol the whole fight, making it impossible to listen to them. One could tell from the start that Beterbiev was up against it. When the judges’ scorecards were announced, the only surprise was that one of them had it a draw because it seemed like Bivol was supposed to win, like in a scripted professional wrestling match.
“I think it was either a draw or Beterbiev won. That’s my opinion. The whole arena is pro-Bivol, but it was a high-level fight. So, you can’t argue with the winner either way,” said Anthony Yarde to Boxing King Media about the results of last Saturday night’s battle between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
“But I would have gave a draw or Beterbiev win. I’d say round 13 because Beterbiev did start quite quick. It could be perception. Sometimes, people’s preference,” said Yarde when told that many people had Bivol winning. “I didn’t watch it on TV.”
Bivol was just running the entire fight, throwing weak combinations and holding Beterbiev. It was very boring to watch compared to some of the other fights on the card. Beterbiev appeared to win rounds 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 12. That should have been enough for the fight to be scored as a draw, but not with this judging crew.
