At the end of the ninth round of Saturday’s light heavyweight title unification fight against Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev’s corner delivered a blunt message: You need to knock him out. For the better part of nine rounds Bivol had largely frustrated Beterbiev, jabbing sharply, moving fluidly, landing combinations with startling accuracy. If Beterbiev was going to win, he needed to do something special.
Beterbiev didn’t deliver the knockout but he did deliver, sweeping the final three rounds on all three judges’ scorecards to pull out a majority decision win. The result was disputed—Eddie Hearn, Bivol’s promoter, called the scoring, specifically the 116-112 card submitted by Pawel Kardyni, “sickening,” while Bivol’s co-promoter, Vadim Kornilov, said he plans to file an appeal—but far from outrageous. Beterbiev won enough of the middle rounds to keep the fight competitive, and his late surge was enough to pull the win out.
Punch stats revealed a highly competitive affair. Beterbiev was the more active puncher (682-423) while Bivol was more accurate (142-137), per CompuBox. Beterbiev nearly doubled Bivol’s output in power punches (306-168) but only landed six more. In eight of the 12 rounds the two were separated by four or fewer punches. From ringside, Sports Illustrated scored the fight 114-114—with Beterbiev needing those last three rounds to pull out a draw.
“He has good skills, maybe better than me,” Beterbiev told me in the ring. “But today, Allah chose me.”
For Beterbiev, 39, the win was a crowning achievement. Literally. The career-long light heavyweight became the division’s first undisputed champion since Roy Jones Jr. and the first ever in the four-belt era. Knockout wins over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Joe Smith and Callum Smith established him as the most accomplished 175-pounder. Beating Bivol left no doubt who was No. 1.
In the days leading up the fight there were whispers—some coming from Beterbiev’s own camp—that Beterbiev’s knee, surgically repaired last May, could be an issue. That his mobility could be limited. No such luck. Beterbiev was, well, Beterbiev, stalking, winging combinations. After the fight Bivol’s left hand was badly swollen, likely from blocking an onslaught of right hands.
“He's powerful, very powerful,” Bivol told me. “And you see I have bruise from my hand. He always [landed on my hand] and it was so hard that he reached my eye.”
The win will rocket Beterbiev (21–0), No. 8 in SI's last pound-for-pound rankings, up the list. Will he get a chance to pick up another? Both fighters told me they were open to a rematch and Turki Alalshikh, who supplied the cash needed to make this long-discussed fight happen, said he wanted it, too. Bivol (23–1) saw his perfect record blemished on Saturday but his status as the second-best man in the division is unchanged. There’s no better fight out there for either one of them. They should run it back.
On to SI’s latest rankings.
1. Terence Crawford
Record: 41–0
Last Ranking: 1
Last Fight: UD win vs. Israil Madrimov
Next Fight: TBD
Crawford continues to build on one of boxing’s most impressive résumés: Four-division world champion, two-division undisputed champion and just weeks removed from his 37th birthday, pound-for-pound No. 1. Israil Madrimov, a decorated amateur with a herky-jerky style, gave Crawford problems in August but Crawford’s patience helped him produce a narrow decision win. What’s next? Crawford has made it clear there is only one opponent who interests him: Canelo Álvarez, the unified super middleweight champion who still reigns as boxing’s biggest star.
2. Oleksandr Usyk
Record: 22–0
Last Rankings: 2
Last Fight: SD win vs. Tyson Fury
Next Fight: 12/21 vs. Fury
Usyk is one of the most accomplished fighters ever. An Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, Usyk, 37, added undisputed heavyweight champion to his résumé with a win over Fury in May. Usyk dropped Fury in the ninth round of that fight, adding heavyweight power to some of boxing’s best technique. Usyk will face Fury in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in December with a chance to go 4–0 against the UK’s top heavyweights—Fury and Anthony Joshua—and earn a pile of money in the process.
3. Naoya Inoue
Record: 28–0
Last Ranking: 3
Last Fight: TKO win vs. TJ Doheny
Next Fight: TBD
It feels disrespectful to place an undefeated, two-division undisputed champion third but such is the state of the top of the sport. Last month Inoue battered ex-titleholder TJ Doheny, earning a ninth straight knockout. Plans are tentatively in place for another title defense in December, against Sam Goodman, with ex-unified champion MJ Akhmadaliev waiting for his mandatory shot next year. There’s also Junto Nakatani, the heavy-handed 118-pound champion who could move up to 122 pounds next year.
Record: 21–0
Last Ranking: 8
Last fight: MD vs. Dmitry Bivol
Next fight: TBD
At 39, when most fighters are long since retired, Beterbiev remains at the top of his game. There’s obvious interest in a rematch with Bivol but Beterbiev has options. Title defenses against Joshua Buatsi or the winner of a planned fight between David Benavidez and David Morrell are appealing, as is a jump to cruiserweight for a showdown with Jai Opetaia, who picked up a knockout win over Jack Massey on the Beterbiev-Bivol undercard.
5. Jesse Rodríguez
Record: 20–0
Last Ranking: 4
Last Fight: KO win vs. Juan Francisco Estrada
Next Fight: 11/9 vs. Pedro Guevara
The meteoric rise of Rodríguez, 24, continued last June with a brutal beating of Estrada, who after initially suggesting he would exercise an immediate rematch clause instead elected to move up in weight. Instead, Rodríguez will face mandatory challenger Guevara in November. After that, bigger fish: Matchroom Boxing, Rodríguez’s promoter, is targeting the winner of the rematch between Kazuto Ioka and unified 115-pound champion Fernando Martínez, scheduled for later this year. And the buzz is growing for a showdown between Rodríguez and Inoue, a matchup Rodríguez calls a “fantasy fight” but one that is inching closer to reality.
6. Saul “Canelo” Álvarez
Record: 62–2–2
Last Ranking: 5
Last Fight: UD win vs. Edgar Berlanga
Next Fight: TBD
In dispatching Edgar Berlanga last month, Álvarez reaffirmed that he is the top fighter at 168 pounds … and that, at 34, he’s not the destroyer he used to be. Despite dropping Berlanga in the third round, Álvarez was unable to finish him, instead cruising to a wide decision win. Bivol’s loss to Beterbiev takes a rematch with Bivol (for now) off the table and don’t expect Canelo to rush toward a fight with the heavy handed Beterbiev. That leaves Crawford, a marketable opponent who has been clamoring for his shot at boxing’s box office king.
7. Dmitry Bivol
Record: 23–1
Last Ranking: 6
Last Fight: MD loss to Artur Beterbiev
Next Fight: TBD
The competitiveness of Bivol’s loss to Beterbiev keeps Bivol inside the top 10, though his future is murky. If Beterbiev moves on there is no obvious bounce back opponent. A rematch with Álvarez—one Álvarez badly wanted had Bivol emerged from his last fight victorious—is off the table. And without a title, fights against Benavidez, Morrell or Buatsi are difficult to make. Bivol’s team would be wise to keep the pressure on for an immediate Beterbiev rematch.
8. Shakur Stevenson
Record: 21–0
Last Ranking: 7
Last Fight: UD win vs. Edwin De Los Santos
Next Fight: TBD
Stevenson, 27, successfully defended his 135-pound title in a one-sided decision against Artem Harutyunyan in July, flashing the skills and defensive prowess that have made him a three-division world champion. The fight was Stevenson’s last with Top Rank, freeing Stevenson to pursue the legacy-defining fights that have eluded him. A title defense against Joe Cordina was scrapped after Stevenson suffered a hand injury, one that he says won’t keep him out of a planned showdown with William Zepeda next year.
9. Gervonta Davis
Record: 29–0
Last Ranking: 9
Last Fight: KO win vs. Frank Martin
Next Fight: 12/14 vs. Lamont Roach
No lead is safe against Davis, who last June made Martin his latest knockout victim. Davis is a predator in the ring, willing to give up a few rounds on the scorecards while he is closing distance and finishing as well as any fighter in the smaller weight classes. Still, calls are intensifying for Davis to face a top-level opponent. That won’t happen in December, when Davis is slated to face Roach, a 130-pound titleholder who will move up for a shot at Davis.
10. Devin Haney
Record: 31–0
Last Ranking: 5
Last Fight: NC vs. Ryan Garcia
Next Fight: TBD
I get it—Haney is polarizing. But with his loss to Garcia officially changed to a no-contest Haney deserves to remain in the pound-for-pound rankings. His résumé is impressive: Wins over Jorge Linares, George Kambosos and Vasyl Lomachenko at 135 pounds, a lopsided decision victory over Regis Prograis in his first fight at 140 pounds. Haney absorbed a beating against Garcia but the combination of Garcia blowing weight and testing positive for a banned substance mitigates it. Haney is likely to sit out the rest of 2024 before pursuing a rematch with Garcia in ’25.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Artur Beterbiev Soars in SI’s Latest Boxing Pound-for-Pound Rankings.
