By: Sean Crose
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol put his belt and his undefeated 21-0 record on the line Saturday in Saudi Arabia when he battled the widely unknown 23-1 Lyndon Arthur in a fight scheduled for 12. Both men looked sharp in the first, though Bivol dominated the tempo. By the second, Bivol was already tagging Arthur with power shots. By the end of the round the defending champion was really putting his punches together. Bivol hit his man quickly and at will in the third. The fight was becoming a one sided beatdown.
Bivol continued to bang away in the fourth, as Arthur was looking for a clean shot he couldn’t seem to land. Arthur was able to assert himself in the fifth. Was it enough, though? Bivol went back to dominating Arthur in the sixth. The seventh was essentially more of the same. Aruthur continued to perform gamely in the eighth, landing to Bivol’s body. Yet Bivol worked to the body himself. Indeed, Bivol went on to make easy work of his game challenger in the ninth.
As skilled as he was – and he was nothing if not skilled – Bivol would not carry out a consistent attack that might end the fight early. And so, by the tenth round, the fight appeared nearly stagnant in it own strange way. As if he knew he might be disappointing the fan base, Bivol stepped in and put Arthur down with a blistering combination at the bell ending the eleventh. Bivol tried closing the show early in the twelfth and final wound, but the gutsy Arthur was able to stay standing until the final bell.
Needless to say Bivol was awarded a unanimous decision win, courtesy of the judges.
