A different Artur Beterbiev will be looking for a knockout in his rematch with Dmitry Bivol, according to promoter Bob Arum.
In their undisputed light-heavyweight world title fight in October, Beterbiev won a contentious majority decision.
But he will go straight into a February 22 rematch with Bivol, putting all four of the major 175lb world title belts back on the line.
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Anthony Yarde may not have agreed with the 116 to 112 scoring from the Beterbiev-Bivol fight, but he agreed Beterbiev deserved to win
“When the rematch was offered to Beterbiev he never hesitated to accept it. I assume Bivol the same,” Top Rank founder and CEO Arum told Sky Sports.
“There was a bit of debate, it was a very close fight. I thought Beterbiev won that fight,” he continued. “So I think it will be a really good fight.
“I thought that Beterbiev in the first fight was a little too tentative till the later rounds. I think it will be different this fight.”
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Gary Logan gives greater insight into how the judges scored Beterbiev vs Bivol after their close fight
Bivol did become the first professional opponent to go the distance with Beterbiev. That, though, will spur the champion on for the rematch.
“The only way he wins every fight that he fought was by knockout and he did not win that fight by knockout. So obviously he would want to win the fight by knockout and he almost had the guy going in the last couple of rounds,” Arum said.
Top Rank chairman Todd DuBoef is also convinced Beterbiev will want to leave no doubt in this second fight.
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Bivol insisted on a rematch against Beterbiev as it remains his dream to be the undisputed champion
“He’s never had a decision other than the last fight, I think he goes for it every time,” DuBoef told Sky Sports.
“I felt that his ring generalship and domination, putting the pressure and making the fight happen, was a resounding win for him. And I felt that you could see the body language of Bivol late in the fight as that pressure kept coming and coming.
“The question is, does Artur start that earlier? Can he start that in round one?
“I think it started maybe more in three or four, where he really started to come on. But start that in round one.
“I think if that fight went two more rounds, I don’t think Bivol was getting out of the ring. Maybe he learned from that and we’ll see.”