Artur Beterbiev vowed to “come back even stronger” as he teased a potential third fight with Dmitry Bivol after defeat in Saudi Arabia.
Russian boxing star Bivol prevailed over his compatriot on points to win the undisputed light-heavyweight world title in a dazzling contest that had fans asking for even more.
Beterbiev, 40, had the better of the early rounds but tired as the fight continued and with scores of 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113, Bivol claimed the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles.
With the pair each winning one of their two battles so far, calls have been made for a third fight to decide the better fighter, as Beterbiev opened the door to continuing boxing.
“It was a good fight with a strong opponent,” he wrote on Instagram. “I thank everyone who supported me all the way. But sport is sport. We will definitely come back even stronger.
“God’s plans are always better than ours. Alhamdulillah for everything.”
After 24 rounds of boxing of the highest level, a decider has been demanded by fans, but Beterbiev admitted that he did not even want to take to the stage in Riyadh.
“I didn’t want the second fight, it wasn’t my choice, but no problem. We can do a third fight if we need to,” Beterbiev said after his first professional loss in 22 fights.
“I don’t want to talk about the decision, it’s tough. Congratulations to Bivol’s team. I thought this fight was better than the first fight, but we’ll see. Now is my time to come back.”
Bivol said that he was “ready for any challenge” after avenging his previous defeat.
“I just am so happy, he said, ringside. “I went through it a lot in the last years. Thank you everyone so much. I appreciate everyone so much and everyone who supports me here, thank you.
“To be honest, I lost and I feel a little bit easier maybe. I didn’t pressure too much this time. I wanted to work from the first round to the end of the twelfth. I was better. I was pushing myself more, I was more confident and I was lighter. I wanted to win so much today.
“I told myself he could stay from the beginning to disturb me. It was hard to keep him in the distance and then I saw that he was tired also.
“I had to be smarter and punch more clean punches and I did. Every person in my camp helped me a lot. Everything was on my side. Everyone in my team was important.
“I’m ready for any challenge. I want a little bit of rest because I had some injuries in the summer and this time I had injuries. I want to heal myself and come back.”
