Artur Beterbiev secured the undisputed light heavyweight championship with a majority decision win over Dmitry Bivol at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Beterbiev finished the fight of the Russian boxers strongly, prevailing with scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 114-114 in an entertaining fight at the highest level.

With victory in the long-awaited summit meet, Beterbiev became the first undisputed 175-pound boxing champion in the four-belt era. Bivol went into the fight rated No. 1 light heavyweight and No. 4 pound-for-pound by ESPN. Beterbiev was No. 2 in the division and No. 6 pound-for-pound.

“Of course it’s a tough fight because Dmitri is also a champion,” said Beterbiev. “He has good skills, maybe better than me. But today Allah has chosen me.”

Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) entered the fight as the only boxing champion with a 100% knockout rate, a streak that ended Saturday with the biggest win of his storied career.

Beterbiev turns 40 in January and underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, an operation that pushed the fight back to June. But in the second half of the fight, he still managed to establish himself and establish himself as a Hall of Fame fighter.

Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) controlled the action in the first period, especially early on when he unleashed his excellent jab and footwork to keep the power puncher at bay.

Bivol was the cleaner, sharper puncher and did well to counter Beterbiev with a left hook over his vaunted power jab. But Beterbiev never stopped coming. Even when his punches were blocked – and most of them were – they still seemed to have an impact on Bivol’s guard.

The 33-year-old Bivol entered the fight with a head start in experience in big fights, having earned his career-best win over boxing’s top star Canelo Alvarez in May 2022. But it was Beterbiev who won the final three rounds and secured the victory.

“I did my job,” Bivol said. “I felt like I could do better. … He is powerful, very powerful.”

“And you see I have a bruise on my hand,” he said, putting his hand to his eye. “He kept hitting it and it was so heavy that it even reached my eye.”

Bivol was born with a badly bruised and swollen left eye, and he also had spots around his right eye.

“I am aware that I have to do everything perfectly and I have no explanation because it might seem like an excuse,” Bivol said. “I just congratulate Artur and his team. He deserves it, no problem. I just have time to make another decision about my future.”

The fight clearly called for a rematch, and many observers and fans scored it in favor of Bivol. Given the drama of the competition and the lack of a clear winner, there is also likely to be a lot of demand.

Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn expressed anger at the result of the fight, particularly the score of 116-112 in favor of Beterbiev.

“Look, I don’t want to disrespect Beterbiev,” Hearn said. “But you saw the body language, they knew they had lost the fight. 116-112 Beterbiev? You gave Bivol four rounds? This is a joke. Of course (we want a rematch), he was robbed of the undisputed championship tonight.” . I can’t believe you can give Bivol four rounds… It’s absolutely disgusting, I’m absolutely confused and disgusted.

Bivol said he “of course” wanted another chance at Beterbiev: “Why not? … If I have that chance, yes. That’s my dream, to be undisputed.”

But it was Beterbiev who realized his dream of winning all four belts, adding Bivol’s WBA title to the IBF, WBC and WBO titles.

“I wanted to box with more quality today,” said Beterbiev. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t like this fight. But one day I’ll be better. … If His Excellency (Turki Alalshikh) wants (the rematch), then we can do it.”