Artur Beterbiev ended his 20-fight stoppage streak by winning a majority decision against Dmitry Bivol to become undisputed light-heavyweight champion.

The fight lived up to its billing. A brave Bivol attacked in bursts but used his movement to avoid the heavier shots from Beterbiev, who entered the ring with a 100% knockout ratio.

That worked for the first three rounds before Beterbiev’s thudding shots – on the gloves, arms, hips and everywhere – started to take affect. Bivol’s movement and countering was a little less sharp. Both men stayed on their feet throughout. The judges scored it 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of 39-year-old Beterbiev. There will be many debates as to the result after a number of extremely close rounds.

Post-fight, Bivol was refreshingly honest in his thoughts, choosing not to disagree with what the judges saw but instead accept the outcome.

“I want to say thank you for this chance. Thank you to Riyadh Season, Saudi Arabia and His Excellency. I got this chance. I am a warrior. I have to do everything perfect. And I don’t have any explanation because it could look like excuses. Just congratulations to Artur and his team. He deserves it. No problem. I just have time to make another decision for my future, that’s it … I did my job. I felt I could do better. I always could do better. It’s just the opinion of judges. I didn’t see the fight. He won. What can I say.”

Asked about the power of Beterbiev, Bivol – the first man to survive it – said it was so powerful that his own glove had marked up his face from blocking shots.

“Of course. He’s powerful. Very powerful. You can see I have a bruise from my hand. He always hit it and it was so hard [it bruised when my own hand] hit my eye.”

Finally, on the prospect of a rematch, Bivol is interested. Fans will be too.

“Why not? If I have this chance.”

That may not be likely. Pre-fight, Beterbiev said that becoming undisputed was his final goal in the division and hinted that he may move up to cruiserweight.