Eyebrows were raised when Artur Beterbiev appeared to refuse to shake Dmitry Bivol’s hand following their epic rematch in Riyadh this past weekend.
Bivol took his revenge on Beterbiev, who defeated him via majority decision in October, by scoring a win via the same method to become undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world in Saudi Arabia.
Though the pair have been regarded as the two best 175 pound fighters on the planet for the majority of the last decade, there has never seemed to be any bad blood between them and the build-up to both their meetings has been amicable.
As such, there was confusion across social media when ‘King Artur’ seemingly snubbed a handshake offer from his rival after the scorecards were announced on Saturday night.
However, at the post-fight press conference, Bivol explained the pair shook hands prior to the incident that was captured on live broadcast.
“After the fight, I came to Beterbiev and I told him, ‘Artur, I respect you so much because when I was young and I came to the national team I was looking up to you, how you were training and you were the number one.
“I really respect you and I want to shake your hand and say thank you for this fight.
“And we shook hands. He said, ‘thank you for the fight also. This is sport. This is what happens. You are a good fighter also.’
“Then we had another talk. He came [over to me] and said, ‘I will not shake hands now, because we will have a third fight.’
“It was in the normal way, not arrogant. It was fine. I said, ‘okay, no problem.’”
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 ➡️ 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠@bivol_d is 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐃 👑#BeterbievBivol2 pic.twitter.com/fiA82qwqkg
— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) February 22, 2025
It remains unclear whether a trilogy bout between Bivol and Beterbiev will be next, though this appears to be the preferred option of Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh.
Fresh off a career-best win earlier this month, heavy-handed American star, David Benavidez, who watched on from ringside is also targeting a shot at the newly crowned undisputed king.
