Artur Beterbiev edges Dmitry Bivol to claim undisputed crown

Artur Beterbiev became undisputed light-heavyweight world champion after defeating Dmitry Bivol by majority decision in Riyadh.

A tight encounter ended with scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 on the judges’ cards as the 39-year-old Russian-born Canadian added the WBA crown to his WBC, WBO and IBF titles.

Beterbiev is the division’s first undisputed champion since Roy Jones Jr’s reign that ended in 2002, and the first of the four-belt era.

He extended his unbeaten record to 21 fights as he inflicted a first career defeat on Bivol, the Kyrgyzstan-born Russian six years his junior who had gone 23 fights without losing.

In a clash that had been delayed after Beterbiev sustained a knee injury, Bivol appeared to have the better of things in the opening few rounds.

The momentum looked to be with Beterbiev for a period, before a lively seventh round saw both fighters delivering notable blows.

It was either man’s to take, but after some strong work from Beterbiev, particularly in the 11th, he prevailed to make history.