Turki Alalshikh assured all relevant parties early Sunday morning that Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) will provide the funding for an immediate rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
As the GEA’s chairman, Alalshikh can guarantee the light heavyweight rivals more money than anyone else in the business of boxing for fighting again, just as Alalshikh did Saturday night for their long-awaited champion vs. champion bout. Alalshikh believes Bivol did enough to beat Beterbiev, but Beterbiev won a majority decision to become boxing’s first fully unified 175-pound champion of the four-belt era.
“I don’t think the result is fair, in my opinion,” Alalshikh said as he walked away from ringside at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “The two fighters [are] like my brothers, OK? But I think Bivol [won] two rounds more. I don’t know why the result [is] like this, but in my opinion, I will focus and I will try to do the rematch. They deserve it, they deserve it. If they accept, we will do it.”
The official scoring of Beterbiev’s victory is debatable, though not nearly egregious enough to justify the overused “robbery” term teams haphazardly yell in the immediate aftermath of indecisive defeats. Even Eddie Hearn, Bivol’s promoter, acknowledged Beterbiev vs. Bivol was closely contested, as competitive as the pre-fight odds that slightly favored Bivol suggested.
Hearn and Alalshikh think the previously unbeaten Bivol deserved to win seven rounds (115-113).
Judges Pawel Kardyni (116-112 Beterbiev) and Glenn Feldman (115-113 Beterbiev) disagreed and overruled Manuel Oliver Palomo, who gave Bivol one more round and therefore scored it a draw (114-114). Kardyni and Feldman preferred Beterbiev’s persistent pressure and ability to land flusher punches throughout their 12-round bout over Bivol’s ability to box effectively off his back foot and occasionally connect with combinations when he came forward to give Beterbiev something to think about.
As much as the scoring stung Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) and his team, Bivol refreshingly refused to make what he would’ve considered “excuses” for not undoubtedly beating Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs).
The scores on the abovementioned cards also aren’t the numbers with which Alalshikh should be concerned with now that the focus has shifted toward getting Beterbiev and Bivol to fight again.
Alalshikh, boxing’s most influential figure at the moment, must make it perfectly clear to Beterbiev and his promoters with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. that it isn’t just that he is willing to fully fund Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2. They need to know a Bivol rematch is the only fight of Beterbiev’s for which he is willing to pay.
Beterbiev has a little leverage now that he has officially beaten Bivol, but no one until Alalshikh entered the industry in 2023 was willing to come anywhere close to providing the approximate $20 million in combined purses Beterbiev and Bivol were paid Saturday night. A lack of funding for a fight that — while fascinating and historically significant, wasn’t the most marketable bout — was what prevented it from taking place for so long.
Montreal’s Beterbiev — based on his age, injury history, and firsthand knowledge of how to beat Bivol — should jump at the opportunity to make comparable money for a second fight with the former WBA champion. Arum’s company could pay Beterbiev seven figures for a lesser fight through its expiring ESPN deal, but Beterbiev began boxing as a professional at 28 after two Olympic appearances, has been hurt more than anyone can remember, still has just 21 fights on his pro record 11 years after his career started, and is three months shy of his 40th birthday.
Beterbiev could wait around for the David Benavidez vs. David Morrell winner, though that would require collaboration between Arum and Al Haymon, whose Premier Boxing Champions works with Benavidez and Morrell. Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) won’t fight until early in 2025 either, which would cause another long layoff for Beterbiev.
With that timeline in mind, there simply isn’t anything that’ll make more dollars or sense for Beterbiev than an immediate rematch versus Bivol.
Alalshikh must make it perfectly clear that he isn’t just willing to fully fund Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2. They need to know a rematch is the only fight of Beterbiev’s for which he is willing to pay.
“We know he’s a man of his word,” Hearn said during their post-fight press conference in reference to Alalshikh. “We know he supported Dmitry Bivol. We thank him so much, not just for the opportunities for Dmitry Bivol, but what he’s given boxing tonight by making that fight. And there has to be a rematch because Artur Beterbiev, you know, there’s always going to be the controversy of that fight.
“He’s a true champion, [but] what other fight is there for Artur Beterbiev? I mean, the whole world will want to see that again. The whole world will know. I’m sure there’s some that found a Beterbiev victory, but everybody I know that knows boxing didn’t tell me that at ringside.”
Beterbiev, the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO champion, isn’t contractually obligated to battle Bivol again. And at least one of those sanctioning organizations is bound to order Beterbiev to make a mandated defense next, now that all companies involved have taken their fees from this lucrative light heavyweight title unification fight.
When that inevitably becomes a reality, Beterbiev needs to take control of his career and realize that, even as good as he looked Saturday night, he doesn’t have many championship-caliber performances left in his battered body. Making meaningless mandated defenses won’t do anything to enhance his legacy, nor would those types of fights fatten his bank account the way a Bivol rematch would.
“If ‘His Excellency’ (Alalshikh) want,” Beterbiev said of a rematch, “we gonna do.”
We can only hope Beterbiev means what he says.
Beterbiev vs. Bivol didn’t exactly conjure comparisons to Corrales vs. Castillo, but it was entertaining enough — and certainly competitive enough — to warrant a rematch, especially since a deep-pocketed investor can satisfy their purse demands and again keep Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 off the pay-per-view platform in the United States.
Bivol obviously will want to avenge the lone loss of his 10-year professional career, thus getting him to sign another contract to box Beterbiev shouldn’t be all that difficult.
If Beterbiev balks at it because he has more leverage, Alalshikh should inform him that the Bivol rematch is the only fight of his that Saudi Arabia’s GEA is willing to fund next.
