Robert Berridge
It will be a long and painful 30 hour flight home for expat Whanganui boxer Robert Berridge after he was stopped for a cut following a one-sided four round hammering by WBA interim light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol yesterday morning.
Berridge (29-6-1) had a four week training camp to prepare for the trip to the Russian city of Perm to try and take the interim title from the undefeated Bivol (9-0).
The fight was stopped by referee Gustavo Padilla in the fourth round after the ringside doctor informed him the heavily-bleeding cut above Berridge's right eye was too deep for the Kiwi to continue.
Berridge had just been put down to a knee for the third time by a Bivol barrage, as the WBA's No1 contender showed excellent footwork and speed to leave Berridge desperately reaching for hooks and body shots which missed, and would then pop right back into the pocket to land rapid jabs right on the money.
"Got a nice little cut to add to the scars, to add to the wars," Berridge said in a Facebook video from his hotel while he showed the stitches just above the eye.
"Ultimately that was not the result we wanted, did not go the way we planned.
"He is one tough bastard, hardest hitter, fastest puncher I've come across. He's definitely going to go on and win a world title.
"The team - Cleve [Langdon], Vasco [Kovacevic] - we done everything we could to prep for that fight. Everyone behind us."
Berridge had no answer for the skilled Bivol, who right from round 1 was able to move in and out of Berridge's range and snap off a stinging left hand to the gut or through the gloves to the temple.
By the second round, the Kiwi was circling back and away whereas Bivol would following him and wait for his opportunity, and by the final moments was unloading with some vicious combinations.
Berridge raised hopes early in the third round when he connected with a left hook that momentarily staggered Bivol, but the home town fighter swiftly regathered himself, whereas a tiring Berridge was getting his head low to find a body shot, but to no avail.
Bivol swooped down and nailed him with a series of hooks from each hand, with Berridge crumbling to a knee for the first standing eight count.
Berridge bravely tried to fight back and turn the bout into a brawl, trying to tie them up, but Bivol had his timing and pushed Berridge back, hitting the retreating Kiwi from every angle to put him back on his knee at the end of the round.
Amped up, Bivol stayed on the balls of his feet to work Berridge into the corners, counter-punching right onto the widening cut every time Berridge tried to get off his his hooks, and after putting him down again in the corner, the blood was running in rivets.
Padilla escorted the dazed Berridge to a neutral corner and the doctor felt the wound could not be closed, signalling the bout's conclusion.