The reactions were apparent; there was a sense of disbelief. It was simply not their day. Reality had hit team Dmitry Bivol so hard—their champion had lost the duel against Artur Beterbiev. At the Kingdom Arena, the Canadian-Russian unified champion extended his stretch to the undisputed territory, scoring a majority decision win over Bivol. No prizes for guessing; the judges’ final decision left many fuming.

Out of the three decision-makers, Manuel Oliver Palomo considered the fight a draw. His score was 114-114. But the remaining two judges favored Beterbiev. While Glen Feldman scored 115-113, Pawel Kardyni jotted 116-112 in favor of Beterbiev. However, it is the Poland-born judge’s review that seems to have come under scrutiny. Reportedly, Bivol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov, voiced a few concerns. Let’s explore which fights Kardyni had adjudicated in the past.

Prominent Fight that Pawel Kardyni Judged 

Records reveal that for the most part, the Elblag-born boxing official reviewed matches that took place in his homeland, Poland. But then he flew out for some of the most prominent matches in the recent past. Incidentally, Pawel Kardyni was one of the judges at the June 1 fight between Dmitry Bivol and Malik Zinad. As most fans might be aware, that was the initial date scheduled for the fight with Beterbiev.

But it had to be postponed when reports of the unified light heavyweight champion’s injury emerged. Nevertheless, the Bivol-Zinad was an early stoppage, with Bivol winning by a sixth-round technical knockout. On the same card, Kardyni joined Byung Moo Kim and Jean-Robert Laine to evaluate the Raymond Ford–Nick Ball bout as well. A few months later, on September 3, Pawel Kardyni marked his presence at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena. He was one of the judges who saw through ‘The Monster’s second undisputed title defense.

About a year ago, one of the most notable bouts that Pawel Kardyni judged was the one between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. Though the fight ended in a knockout win for the Ukrainian champion, most fans remember it more for the ‘low blow’ controversy.

Apparently, 2022 was a busy one for Pawel Kardyni. On November 5, the Polish boxing official adjudicated a Dmitry Bivol fight. Soon after he defeated Canelo Alvarez, Bivol took on Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez‘s-might while defending his WBA (super) light heavyweight title. The fight went the whole distance. It appears Kardyni awarded a 117-111 score in favor of Bivol.

Then a few months before, he joined judges Leszek Jankowiak and Robin Taylor in awarding Filip Hrgovic a unanimous win over Zhilei Zhang. On June 5 of that year, officiating the title fight between Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr. in Australia, he registered a score of 110-118 for the American boxer.

Almost a Similar Stand

If looking for an instance similar to what transpired at the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol fight, then one might have to go back a bit further. The match was between two Frenchmen, Dylan Charrat and Howard Cospolite. The contest for the vacant European Union super welterweight title took place at Palais de Sports in Marseille on October 20, 2018. As in the case with Beterbiev-Bivol, while one judge, Rajko Djajic, awarded a score of 115-115, Englishman John Latham favored Charrat with a 115-113 score. However, Kardyni felt differently and went for Cospolite by a good margin of 117-113.

In an interview with ‘BoxNation’, Vadim Kornilov contemplated filing a petition for reviewing the scores of the Saturday night headliner. He said, “We’re going to file a protest. Um, I mean, at the end of the day we all know that doesn’t work, but at least the judge has to at least have some kind of responsibility in his, you know, in his mind for what he did.” Fans will be eagerly watching out as things unfold in the coming days.

What is your personal opinion on the Beterbiev-Bivol scorecard?