Dmitry Bivol avenged his loss to Artur Beterbiev in their first fight and became the new absolute world light heavyweight champion. The Russian won by unanimous decision - 114-114 on one scorecard, but 115-113 and 116-112 on the other two, to unify the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF belts in the category.

Bivol lost episode number 1 against Beterbiev in October, when he became the first boxer not to be knocked out by the 40-year-old Russian. Beterbiev, who was criticized for his more wait-and-see tactics in the first fight, was more active this time around. Both men traded heavy blows and the fight was very contested, but in the end Bivol emerged victorious.

"I did enough. I was the better fighter in the ring, I was more confident and lighter, I wanted to win so much today. I just told myself that he would want to crush me from the start. It was hard for me to keep him at bay in the first four rounds. I was tired, but he was feeling the fatigue too. I had to throw more punches", said Bivol.

The rivalry between him and Beterbiev remains strong, with neither man willing to shake his opponent's hand after the final decision was announced. "Congratulations to Bivol and his team. Actually, I didn't want the second fight, it wasn't my decision. But we'll do a third one", said Beterbiev, who suffered his first loss in the ring after 21 consecutive wins (20 by knockout) in his professional career.

In another bout at the gala in Riyadh, Joseph Parker retained the WBO interim heavyweight title after knocking out Martin Bakole in the second round. The New Zealander was scheduled to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF belt, but the Briton withdrew after falling ill. | BGNES