BELFAST – Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn rates the second fight between light heavyweight stars Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev as the best bout he has seen.
It helped that his man, Bivol, left with the undisputed title around his waist, winning the hotly-anticipated rematch to level the series between the Russians at 1-1.
Beterbiev won the first time by a narrow margin in October, with many thinking Bivol had done enough. This time, Bivol was awarded the decision.
“It's probably the best fight I’ve ever seen live,” said Hearn. “One of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen and Bivol was sitting there now, he’s the nicest bloke in the world, and I said to him, ‘You’re king,’ and he was like, ‘Yes, I am.’ And it’s like, ‘You can fight Canelo in a rematch, you can fight [David] Benavidez, you can fight Callum Smith, you can fight Beterbiev in No. 3, basically whatever His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] says.”
Bivol already holds a win over Canelo, Benavidez was ringside in Saudi Arabia, angling for a fight with the winner, while Callum Smith defeated the previously-unbeaten Joshua Buatsi in an excellent fight in the undercard.
“He [Alalshikh]’s given him [Bivol] two golden opportunities,” Hearn told a small group of reporters here in Ireland. “The rematch was a real golden opportunity because that don’t happen very often, especially at that speed [four months after the first fight]. My gut feeling, with how His Excellency feels about being fair, is the trilogy [will be next], and I’d watch it a million times.
“But I think Bivol wins much better in the third fight.”