There was brilliance, bravery, lunacy, savagery and endless hours of boxing in Riyadh on Saturday night, when seven fights with seven stories took place until nearly 4am.
Dmitry Bivol avenged his only loss to beat Artur Beterbiev and become the undisputed champion at light-heavyweight, in a simply amazing fight of skill and risk. Their first fight last October was exceptional, their rematch was far better.
Bivol had to take chances, and he did in every round, putting himself in danger to pull off the win; Beterbiev had stopped or knocked out 20 of his 21 victims, but he has now gone 24 rounds with Bivol without coming close to dropping his great rival. The pair are untouchable, a perfect double act of speed, accuracy, style and power.
The scores were 115-113 and 116-112 for Bivol and a third of 114-114; the right man won and now they will look at a third fight, a fitting trilogy. However, it is unlikely to be for all four belts – mandatories, stupidity and boxing politics will ruin the undisputed path.
Just four days ago, Martin Bakole was preparing in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a fight in New York on 2 May, and then his life was turned upside down. Bakole was drafted in to fight Joseph Parker in the joint main event, jumped on two planes, arrived less than 24 hours before the first bell, lost in the second round, jumped back on a plane, and is still fighting in New York on 2 May – it is one of boxing’s most absurd tales.
Parker, who was meant to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title, caught Bakole on the temple and Bakole’s legs stiffened. He stumbled, he rocked, and he fell with a mighty thud (he was over 308lb on the scales). Bakole beat the count and was saved by Billy Nelson in his corner, who threw in the towel to end the crazy story. Bakole will remain one of boxing’s danger men, the loss has not damaged his status.
Parker must now wait for a rearranged date for his fight with Dubois, and he deserves that. Dubois withdrew with an illness late last Thursday.
There was another heavyweight crash in the Agit Kabayel and Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang fight. It was extraordinary to watch Kabayel, once again fighting as a heavy underdog, break down Zhang for a sixth-round stoppage. Zhang went down on his knees, his body wrecked from Kabayel’s power and accuracy.
In the fifth, Kabayel was dropped heavily but rallied to win the round; Zhang was finished after his brief success. Kabayel has now won three consecutive fights in Riyadh and started as the underdog in all of them. He conceded nearly 50lb and four inches in height to Big Bang. It was class, and now Kabayel must surely be on a shortlist for a world-title fight. The fight was for the WBC interim heavyweight title; Oleksandr Usyk, the full WBC champion, was ringside and is in no hurry to reveal his plans.
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Hamzah Sheeraz fought for his first world title against the underrated WBC middleweight champion, Carlos Adames, and after 12 hard rounds the scores were divided. One judge went for Adames, one had a draw, and one went for Sheeraz. It was very harsh on Adames, but he kept his title.
Sheeraz damaged his left hand early but refused to hide behind the injury when the fight was over. “The hand had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight,” said Sheeraz at the end. It was the first blemish on Sheeraz’s record in 22 fights, but Adames was quite brilliant at times, a mix of experience and style. Sheeraz woke up Sunday morning a much better fighter than he was just the previous day; he lost, but he won. The decision does not tell the story of the fight – a rematch might just deliver something special.
The American Vergil Ortiz Jr beat Israil Madrimov over 12 quality rounds; it was not as wide as the scores, but it was a perfect fight for Ortiz, who moved to 23-0, with 21 KOs. The fight was for the WBC interim super-welterweight title and Ortiz will feature in something special this year.
Spare a thought for Madrimov, who was having just his 13th fight; his last three have been brutal: Magomed Kurbanov was 25-0, Terence Crawford was 40-0 and Ortiz was 22-0. Madrimov stopped Kurbanov but dropped decisions to the other two – he must have a great relationship with his manager!
Josh Padley is a full-time electrician from just outside Doncaster and he accepted an offer to fight Shakur Stevenson for the WBC lightweight title last Tuesday. There was no fairytale ending and it finished in the ninth round, after Padley had been dropped three times from sickening body shots. It was heroic and the money was lifechanging, so, I guess, there was a bit of a fairytale.
Stevenson remains unbeaten, a world champion at three weights and still in search of a defining fight; Padley will be back this week at the job he left unfinished last week.
The fight of the night, and a genuine and early contender for fight of the year, opened the show at 7pm. Callum Smith beat Joshua Buatsi in a relentless, 12-round classic, packed with pride, power and blood. It was a first loss for Buatsi in 20 fights and he fought like a man who had no idea how to lose; Smith won because he just knew a bit more.
They fought to a standstill in several rounds and, at the end they just looked at each other for two seconds. It was hard from the first bell and the right man got the full vote after 12 rounds.
Oddly, for a night when about a dozen versions of the world title were up for grabs in the seven fights, it was just about the purity of the fights. The belts were jewellery, the passion was in the action.
