Artur Beterbiev defeated Dmitry Bivol to become the undisputed men’s light-heavyweight champion of the world.
In a much-hyped and delayed Riyadh Season main event featuring two of the sport’s very best, the reigning WBC, IBF and WBO title-holder at 175lbs added Bivol’s long-held WBA belt to his collection, winning a contentious majority decision that will certainly divide opinion among boxing fans.
Beterbiev made a slow start to proceedings at the Kingdom Arena on Saturday night, but his constant front-foot pressure and strong finish to a fascinating contest evidently scored well with the judges, two of whom - Pawel Kardyni and Glenn Feldman - awarded him the victory with scores of 116-112 and 115-113, much to the disbelief of Bivol’s furious promoter Eddie Hearn. The other judge - Manuel Oliver Palomo - scored a 114-114 draw.
Beterbiev, 39, is the first man to reign as undisputed at light-heavyweight since Roy Jones Jr more than two decades ago, improving his undefeated record to 21-0 - though his fearsome 100 per cent knockout streak as a professional is now at an end.
Bivol, meanwhile, will feel extremely hard done by after an impressive technical and tactical display against his former amateur team-mate and one-time sparring partner, no doubt very eager for a swift rematch after suffering his first career loss and dropping to 23-1.
In Saturday night’s co-main event, Fabio Wardley delivered an emphatic statement with a vicious first-round stoppage of Frazer Clarke in a brutally short-lived rematch of their Easter Sunday classic at the O2 Arena to retain his British, Commonwealth and WBA Continental heavyweight titles.
Jai Opetaia dominated European and Commonwealth champion Jack Massey to keep hold of his IBF cruiserweight belt, with the challenger’s corner throwing in the towel in round six of another one-sided bout.
New IBO middleweight title-holder Chris Eubank Jr marked his return to the ring after 13 months away with a lively display against former European middleweight champion Kamil Szeremeta, dropping the Polish fighter three times despite being cut by an early accidental headbutt en route to a seventh-round stoppage before Conor Benn jumped into the ring and the arch-rivals clashed again for the second time in just a matter of days in front of Saudi-based football superstar Neymar.
There were no issues for Australia’s Skye Nicolson as she successfully retained her WBC featherweight title against Norwich’s Raven Chapman on points, while highly-rated Olympic silver medalist Ben Whittaker’s impressive early winning run as a professional is over after an utterly bizarre end to his fight with Liam Cameron.
Whittaker was embroiled in by far his toughest test to date before both men accidentally went over the top rope and fell out of the ring following a clinch at the end of round five, with Whittaker suffering a lower-leg injury that meant he could not continue as he was taken backstage in a wheelchair before then going to hospital for assessment.
The fight was then ruled a technical draw on the scorecards, much to the frustration of former Commonwealth middleweight champion Cameron, who felt he had done more than enough for the big upset.
The latest Riyadh Season show began with back-to-back wins for professional debutants over four rounds, with Marco Maric defeating Christian Lopez Flores and Saudi fighter Mohammed Alakel outboxing Jesus Gonzalez of Colombia.
