Back these 6/5 and 7/4 Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol bets

Light-heavyweight rulers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol resume their rivalry at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena on Saturday, four months on from their initial meeting in Saudi Arabia. 

Beterbiev edged a tight encounter first time around, claiming the undisputed titles at 175lbs in the process, but who will emerge victorious this time around? 

Our boxing tipster Brad Walker (@brad_TWalker) has taken a closer look at the match-up to determine where the betting value lies.

The outcome of the first fight proved controversial to say the least. Beterbiev got his hand raised by way of majority-decision, yet a large portion of onlookers believed it was Bivol who deserved the nod in Riyadh back in October. 

In reality, the fight was incredibly close and ultimately could have gone either way. Perhaps Bivol was a tad unfortunate not to be acknowledged in some form on the judges' scorecards, but claims he was robbed that night are ludicrous in every sense. 

Still, a second meeting between the pair was absolutely the right call. Boxing has made habit of making unnecessary rematches in years gone by, but that's not the case here. Beterbiev-Bivol II is well-deserving of its place atop of a blockbuster card in the Kingdom this weekend.

Beterbiev claimed the undisputed light-heavyweight titles with his victory over Bivol last year. (Photo credit: Alamy Images)

Can Bivol match Beterbiev across 12 full rounds?

The general consensus is that Bivol took the bulk of the first six rounds, with Beterbiev coming on strong to edge the fight down the stretch.

The latter looked particularly strong in the all-so-crucial championship rounds, which were awarded in Beterbiev's favour by all three judges on the night.

His ability to finish on such a strong note at the age of 40 is a marvel in itself, though I do question whether he did enough in the rounds prior to earn the win first time around. 

Personally, I scored the fight a draw and while I do concede the fight could've swung in anyone's favour by one or two rounds, I would have leant in the direction of Bivol if I was forced to pick a winner.

Beterbiev appeared a tad too idle during those early stages, leaving him with too much ground to make up on my scorecard as the final third of the fight drew closer. 

Like the judges, I too awarded Beterbiev each of the final three rounds, but again this wasn't enough to see him edge a decision. 

"I don't like to lose" - @bivol_d #BeterbievBivol2 | #RiyadhSeason | Feb 22, live on DAZN: Click link in bio to buy | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/Ghaml4DiLQ

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 18, 2025

Switching attention back to this weekend, I'm going to back Bivol to level the score by making the necessary adjustments based on what we saw in their initial encounter. 

Sure, Beterbiev remains in incredible shape but he is still 40 years old. His approach of looking to finish the early rounds strong with short bursts in the final minute was telling and suggests he is incapbale of maintaining the frenetic output seen in the bout's final stages across the full 12-round championship distance.

Meanwhile, Bivol is no spring chicken but remains six years Beterbiev's junior. The notion that the former was swept away during the latter stages is also incorrect. Beterbiev may have outlanded Bivol in five of the final six rounds, but two of these were only by a single punch. Both men also landed an equal number of power punches in the twelfth. 

Ultimately, Bivol has greater scope to make the appropriate changes as the younger man and will come into the fight knowing a stronger finish will be needed if he is to get his hand raised. I'm also not sure Beterbiev will be able to exert more energy early on, at his age, which would then jeapardise his chances of another strong finish time around. 

The reality is the fight sees two of the sport's best pound-for-pound offerings trade blows once again, making it a near impossible task to pick a winner despite them having fought only four months ago. But, all of the above combined with the odds-against pricing of a Bivol win at 11/10 leans me in the favour of revenge rather than repeat. 

A Bivol win is almost certainly going to come on the scorecards, so backing the challenger by way of decision/technical decision is also a worthy punt.

Brad Walker's Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol best bets

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