ARTUR BETERBIEV VS. DMITRIY BIVOL 2 FULL CARD PREVIEW, PRESSER, WEIGH-IN & BETTING ODDS
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By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (February 22, 2025)– Billed as The Last Crescendo, DAZN will televise a nine bout card from Kingdom Arena, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring nine top-flight boxing bouts, on Saturday, February 22, 2025. Two late addition substitute opponent wild cards will be fighting opportunity bouts for titles in place of the scheduled participants who withdrew.
The card will feature Vergil Ortiz Jr., 22-0 with 21 knockouts, Grand Prairie, Texas, defending his World Boxing Council Interim Super Welterweight title against Israil Madrimov, 10-1-1, seven knockouts, Indio, California by the way of Uzbekistan.
Ortiz was knocked down twice by Serhii Bohachuk at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in his last outing in August 2024. Knockouts will affect scoring and would favor Bohachuk on the cards. A late-round stoppage, if it occurs, favors the hard-working Ortiz. Madrimov lost to Terence Crawford in his last outing by 12 12-round decision at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles in August 2024. Two of the scorecards favored the now 41-0 Crawford by 115-113, close enough to argue for Madrimov. Ortiz has a one and a half inches of height and two inches of reach advantage. If Ortiz is to win by decision, and it is possible, he would have to demonstrate superior ring generalship and outwork Madrimov using his height and reach advantage. Madrimov would have to get to the inside and outwork Ortiz in close. The bout is an interesting matchup on paper.
In a preliminary bout to the main event, Carlos Adames, 24-1 with 18 knockouts, Las Vegas, Nevada via the Dominican Republic, is predicted to win by late-round stoppage or unanimous decision over Hamzah Sheeraz, 21-0 with 17 knockouts, Ilford, Essex, United Kingdom, in defense of the World Boxing Council World Middleweight title. Sheeraz currently holds the EBU European, CBC and WBC Silver Middleweight regional titles. Sheeraz is a hard hitter, and could possibly win by stoppage if he gets through to Adames with power shots early.
In a main event heavyweight title bout and probable world title eliminator for Oleksandr Usyk, Joseph Parker, 35-3 with 23 knockouts, Auckland, New Zealand, is favored to retain his interim WBO World Heavyweight title by 12-round majority decision over tough Martin Bakole, 21-1 with 16 knockouts, Airdrie, Scotland, by way of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bakole, who was stopped by Michael Hunter in the tenth round in October 2018 at York Hall Bethnal Green, is making a mistake fighting the dangerous Parker last minute without preparations. True, he may have been in the gym as the available last-minute opponent anyway, however, Parker is not an opponent and requires a closed, lengthy training camp at the world-class level. Bakole will give a good accounting of himself, but Parker will be ready for him as Daniel Dubois, the originally scheduled foe, is still a fighting class one notch above Bakole.
In the featured card bout, former world champion Dmitrii Bivol, 23-1 with 12 knockouts, Indio, California, by way of Kyrgyzstan, is predicted to win the WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and IBO World Light Heavyweight titles over Artur Beterbiev, 21-0 with 20 knockouts, Montreal, Canada, by way of the Russian Federation. At age 40, Beterbiev is a tested and true warrior. Bivol will have to outwork Beterbiev on the scorecards. Like his bout with Canelo Alvarez, Bivol is looking at possible 115-113 and 116-112 close scorecards in either direction, and this bout ultimately will go on the scorecards to the fighter who trained harder, and wanted it a little bit more than the other. This could potentially be a brutal war, and the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year.
Joshua Buatsi, 19-0 with 13 knockouts, London, United Kingdom by way of Ghana, is favored to retain his WBO Interim World Light Heavyweight title by 12-round unanimous decision over Callum, 30-2 with 22 knockouts, Liverpool, United Kingdom. Interesting bout, with the 2016 Olympic Games Bronze medalist Buatsi in with Smith, who has been stopped by Beterbiev, and outpointed by Canelo at super middleweight. Buatsi is more a complete light heavyweight.
Agit Kabayel, 25-0 with 17 knockouts, Bochum, Germany, is favored by seventh-round stoppage or knockout over the taller and bigger Zhilei Zhang, 27-2 with 22 knockouts, Bloomfield, New Jersey by way of the People’s Republic of China. Kabayel has gone through Andrii Rudenko, Dereck Chisora, Arslanbek Makhmudov, and Frank Sanchez, fighters who were supposed to beat him.
Zhang has incredible power, however, he has been plagued with difficulties against highly technical fighters such as Filip Hrgovic, Jerry Forrest, and Joseph Parker, who counterpunch well and survived an early onslaught. These fighters were down a combined five times in the first three rounds, yet survived a combined total of 42 rounds, surviving six knockdowns and Zhang was unable to outpoint them on the scorecards, even getting penalized against Forrest for holding, and gassing down the stretch. Kabayel will break him and outpoint him and outpoint him if the knockout does not occur. If Kabayel boxes carelessly, then the bout could be a different story in Zhang’s favor. However, Kabayel appears very hungry, so that possibility is unlikely.
Southpaw Shakur Stevenson, 22-0 with ten knockouts, Houston Texas, is favored to win by unanimous decision over Josh Padley, 15-0 with four knockouts, Armthorpe, United Kingdom, in defense of his World Boxing Council World Lightweight title. Hats off for Padley for taking this bout on short notice, coming off his major upset of 16-0 Mark Chamberlain at Wembley this past September. Stevenson could stop Padley late as this bout could prove to be a mismatch. Padley could give a damn good accounting of himself, though, and would have been prepared for the opportunity bout, given he had weight. This bout might be more interesting than the experts give it credit for.
Super Lightweight prospect Ziyad Alaayouf, 6-0-1 with one knockout, Los Angeles, California by way of Saudi Arabia, is predicted to win by second-round knockout over Jomatas Rodrigo Gomez de Oliveira, 6-20 with five knockouts, Muana, Brazil, a trial horse journeyman who has lost 14 straight.
Mohammed Alakel, a 2-0 local lightweight prospect from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will open the Riyadh Kingdom Arena card, and is predicted to win by six-round unanimous decision or late round stoppage over Engels Gomez, 8-42-3 with four knockouts, Chinandega, Nicaragua, who is 0-42 a trial horse journeyman opponent with four losses two draws in his last 42 bouts.
Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 Average Betting Odds:
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