All three of them gave the final two rounds to Beterbiev, and if Bivol had won just one of those rounds, the fight would have been a split-decision draw; Bivol would have won it on one scorecard (which read 114-114 on the night), drawn it on another (the 115-113), and lost by a slimmer margin on the third (the 116-112).
Perhaps a key stat, as CompuBox notes, is that Bivol outlanded Beterbiev 33-23 in power punches over the first six rounds, before Beterbiev turned the tables 67-51 in the final six.
Beterbiev landed 90 power punches to Bivol’s 84, so not a drastic lead, and he threw them with 29.4 per cent accuracy, compared to Bivol’s 50 per cent.
You might not have felt those rounds were enough to cost Bivol victory – even Beterbiev and his team looked downbeat after the final bell – but the judges did.
And in the final two rounds specifically, Beterbiev landed 29 power punches to Bivol’s 19.
