Dmitry Bivol lands a punch on his way to a unanimous points victory over against Lyndon Arthur at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on December 23, 2023. Reuters
Dmitry Bivol lands a punch on his way to a unanimous points victory over against Lyndon Arthur at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on December 23, 2023. Reuters
Dmitry Bivol lands a punch on his way to a unanimous points victory over against Lyndon Arthur at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on December 23, 2023. Reuters
Dmitry Bivol lands a punch on his way to a unanimous points victory over against Lyndon Arthur at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on December 23, 2023. Reuters

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Combat Sports

Dmitry Bivol maintains perfect record after one-sided victory over Lyndon Arthur

Kyrgyzstan-born fighter proves too good for Briton and sets sights on winner of Artur Beterbiev's fight with Callum Smith in January

The National

December 24, 2023

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Dmitry Bivol retained his WBA light heavyweight as he eased to a comprehensive points victory over Lyndon Arthur at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

Any thoughts the Kyrgyzstan-born fighter might suffer from ring rust were blown away in the kingdom as Bivol dominated the Briton from the start, using his precise lead hand to dictate the action.

Bivol, who underwent hand surgery earlier this year, floored Arthur with a body-shot barrage in the closing moments of the penultimate round and while he fell short of a 12th knockout of his pro career, all three judges scored the fight 120-107.

The win took his record to 22-0, while also claiming Arthur's IBO title, and Bivol is now setting his sights on fighting the winner of WBC champion Artur Beterbiev's mandatory title defence against Callum Smith on January 13. “Dmitry's committed now with Saudi to make that fight,” said promoter Eddie Hearn.

Russian-born Canadian Beterbiev also holds the IBF and WBO belts and will be looking to take his record to 20-0 when he fights Britain's Smith in Quebec City. All of the 38-year-old's 19 wins so far have come via knockouts.

“It was good sparring for me,” said Bivol, ESPN's reigning Fighter of the Year, after the fight on the 'Day of Reckoning' undercard in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

“I'm glad that the end of the year I got this fight and now I see my way to my goal, to undisputed [championship] against the winner of Beterbiev-Smith. I hope this fight will happen in 2024.”

It was only the second defeat of Arthur's career having won 23 of his 24 pro bouts – with his lone defeat coming against Anthony Yarde in 2021 – but the 32-year-old Englishman was no match for Bivol.

“I felt like I did all right, but obviously not good enough,” said Arthur. “One of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. He's as good as everyone thinks he is. I believe he'll beat Beterbiev.”

Another British fighter enjoyed more success on the undercard when Daniel Dubois reignited his career by stopping American Jarrell Miller with just 10 seconds to go in a thrilling heavyweight contest.

Dubois, 26, returned to winning ways after defeat at world-title level to Oleksandr Usyk in August.

“It really mattered tonight. I had to dig deep. I came through it and I showed my heart,” he told Dazn post-fight.

“I had my dad screaming in my corner and I knew I had to go out there and work. I had to prove it to myself that I was a real fighter and I could be a champion. I silenced the doubts tonight.”

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Updated: December 24, 2023, 10:44 AM
BoxingSaudi Arabia