Boxer Dmitry Bivol defended his championship title, defeating Lyndon Arthur
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Russian boxer Dmitry Bivol, in his only fight in 2023, very confidently defended the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title (up to 79.4 kg). Throughout the 12 rounds of the fight in Riyadh, he had a colossal advantage over the Briton Lyndon Arthur, once knocked down his opponent and won on points with a crushing score.
Dmitry Bivol won his 22nd consecutive victory in a remarkable professional career as part of a gorgeous show, which was staged by the generous Saudi Arabia at the end of the year. It’s hardly worth comparing in terms of loudness to the two that brought Bivol the title of best boxer of 2022 in all respected classifications, above Mexican superstars Saul Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez, but there was a lot of brightness in it too.
In this fight with Lyndon Arthur, a fighter without a rich background, but strong and ambitious enough not to be considered a completely crazy contender, Dmitry Bivol demonstrated his outstanding merits in all its glory. This is amazing footwork, and a simply animal sense of distance, and the ability to work not with individual blows, but with short and long series. And very cunning ones – the kind when an opponent who has already covered his head suddenly gets hit in the body and vice versa.
Lyndon Arthur, however, also delighted me with something. In fact, he found himself in a difficult, almost critical situation already in the second round and, in fact, never left it. The segments when the Briton in the ring had the opportunity to take a breath and think about how to attack himself lasted no more than ten to fifteen seconds. The rest of the time, the champion forced him to think not even about defense, but about survival.
Every time Bivol unleashed another cannonade of blows on the enemy, it looked like something mortally dangerous for the challenger.
But, suffering, Arthur somehow held on. And in the eighth round he even snapped back, reminding him that in fact, in his previous fights, against simpler opponents, he often caused them colossal problems by suddenly shooting towards them from the right. Although the Briton’s outburst ultimately only wound up Bivol, who already seemed to enjoy fighting in a slightly monotonous manner.
Lyndon Arthur’s suffering reached its climax at the end of the 11th round. The headwash from Dmitry Bivol, already too hard, sat him down on the floor. However, the gong sounded immediately after Arthur’s fall, and during the break, as it turned out, he overcame the knockdown and managed to endure the final round.
All three referees, of course, recorded a colossal (the score on the cards was the same – 120:107) advantage of Dmitry Bivol.
He now has a much more significant fight on his agenda. Next year he is going to fight for the title of absolute world champion in Artur Beterbiev, who owns the belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
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