According to promoter Bob Arum, another Artur Beterbiev will seek a knockout in his rematch with Dmitry Bivol.

Beterbiev won a controversial majority decision in their undisputed light heavyweight world title fight in October.

But he will go straight into a Feb. 22 rematch with Bivol, putting all four major 175-pound world title belts back on the line.

“When Beterbiev accepted the rematch, he accepted it without hesitation. I think Bivol did the same,” said Arum, founder and CEO of Top Rank. sky sports.

“There was some debate and it was a very close fight. I thought Beterbiev won that fight,” he continued. “So I think it’s going to be a really good fight.

“I thought Beterbiev was a little too tentative in the first game until the later rounds. I think this fight will be different.”

Bivol did become the first professional opponent to go all the way against Beterbiev. However, this will provide an incentive for the champion to enter the rematch.

“The only way he’s going to win every fight is by knockout, and he’s not winning that fight by knockout. So obviously he wants to win by knockout, and he almost got this guy in the last few rounds,” Arum said.

Top Rank president Todd DuBoef also believes Beterbiev will be a no-brainer in the second fight.

“He never made any decisions except for the last game, which I think he does every time,” Dubov said. sky sports.

“I feel like his ring command and dominance, applying pressure and making the fight happen, was a huge win for him. I feel like you could see Bivol’s body language late in the fight as the pressure kept coming .

“The question is, will Arthur start earlier? Can he start in the first round?

“I think it’ll probably start in three or four games when he really starts to come in. But it starts in the first round.

“I think if that fight had gone two more rounds, I don’t think Bivol would have walked out of the ring. Maybe he learned from it, and we’ll see.”