Billed as ‘The Greatest Card in Boxing History’ by many, Saturday’s The Last Crescendo card in Riyadh very much lived up to the expectation in a thrilling night of boxing action.

We’ll be taking a look at the winners and losers following a huge night of boxing that has changed the landscape of the sport.

Winners

Well, there’s only one place to start, and that’s the main event. Dmitry Bivol joined an elite club by becoming the undisputed light-heavyweight champion after dethroning Artur Beterbiev in their highly anticipated rematch.

Like the first fight, there was barely a fag paper between them once again, with pretty much every round coming down to the odd moment of brilliance from either fighter.

It was that close, the scorecards were the exact same as the first fight, but this time, it was Bivol who was on the right side of the decision.

The first half of the fight was mainly dominated by Beterbiev. He started quicker than he usually does, and Bivol was struggling to get into his rhythm, albeit keeping every round fairly competitive.

Then, in the second half of the fight, the challenger took over.

He found his rhythm, and before you knew it, that fluid Eastern European style was in full flow. Light on his feet, in and out of range, making Beterbiev miss and frustrating the champion, it was a sheer thing of beauty.

You saw him growing in confidence with every punch landed and every shot of Beterbiev’s that missed. His pivots and changes of angles were eloquent, and in the end, it was enough to see him crowned as the new undisputed light-heavyweight champion of the world.

From the headliner to the curtain raiser, where Callum Smith solidified his claims as the third-best light-heavyweight on the planet as he claimed a unanimous points decision victory over domestic rival Joshua Buatsi.

In the build-up, the amount of people writing off Mundo was quite simply frightening. A man who has lost to only Canelo and Beterbiev, two current (at the time of the fight) undisputed champions, he’s been one of the most dominant British world champions in the last decade.

Ultimately, his professional experience was the difference. Buatsi more than held his own in the toughest fight of his career, but Smith’s ability to mix up his attacks to the head and body saw him come out the victor. The scorecards of 116-112 and 115-113 to Smith were about right, but the 119-110 from Steve Gray was probably the worst card of the year so far.

Yes, Smith was the winner, but Buatsi more than held his own and showed that he belongs at that level. Buatsi’s chin, by the way—wow. Enough said.

In the opening heavyweight contest of the night, Agit Kabayel once again proved that he is a force to be reckoned with as he climbed off the deck to stop Big Bang Zhang in emphatic style.

Similarly to what he did against Makhmudov and Sanchez, being the smaller man once again, he absolutely peppered the body. Zhang started fast in the first round, but then Kabayel started to pile on the pressure in rounds two and three and took over.

Round four was heading a similar way until the German admired his work a little and paid the price, as a short left hook from the Chinese giant sent him crashing to the deck. It didn’t deter Kabayel, though, and if anything, it lit an even bigger fire in him.

He was ripping into that massive frame of Zhang’s, and with every punch that landed, the gas tank of Zhang’s emptied more and more.

Then, in the sixth round, the German got the breakthrough, which ultimately Zhang could not recover from.

Kabayel had done it again. Three fights on Riyadh Season cards, and three stoppages. It doesn’t get much more impressive than that. Who’s next? Only time will tell, but if Joseph Parker doesn’t get a world title shot next, then a clash with him could well be the second biggest fight in the heavyweight division.

On to the super-welterweight clash, where the undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr. got the better of the tricky Uzbek Israil Madrimov.

In a fight that was always going to be a clash of styles, it was a tough watch at times. Madrimov’s awkwardness wasn’t exactly causing Ortiz problems, but it was making the American be a lot more patient, despite him nicking the majority of the rounds.

The fight opened up more in the latter rounds, with both fighters under the assumption that they needed to win the championship rounds, and made it a rather entertaining finish. But it was Ortiz who the judges deemed to have done enough, with the undefeated reigning champ claiming a unanimous decision.

He may not have won, but Carlos Adames was certainly a winner on the night.

Despite him being the reigning world champion, he was not particularly well known outside of the Americas heading into his clash with the highly rated Hamzah Sheeraz.

The bookies didn’t fancy him, and neither did a majority of boxing fans, but he put in a fantastic performance to claim a split-decision draw and retain his world title, despite the fact many people believed that he had done more than enough to get the win.

It was a difficult night at the office for Sheeraz, who injured his right hand early on in the fight, but he will learn a lot from that speed bump, and his time will undoubtedly come to become a world champion.

The Losers That Won

In a fight week where two fights fell through but were rescued by two late-notice opponents, we wouldn’t be able to finish this review without heaping praise on Josh Padley and Martin Bakole.

Padley, who caused a massive upset when beating Mark Chamberlain last year, stepped in on four days' notice to face WBC World Lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson.

Many expected Stevenson to breeze past Padley, but the Yorkshireman gave it a proper go and put Stevenson on the back foot at times.

Stevenson’s body work eventually caught up with the Brit in the ninth round as the ref called it a day, but nevertheless, Padley’s stock has risen enormously, and fingers crossed he’ll get some more big opportunities on the big stage.

If you thought four days' notice was last minute, then the two days' notice Martin Bakole got to face Joseph Parker is next-level last minute.

After Daniel Dubois was taken ill on Thursday night, it was announced a short time later that Bakole would step in to face Parker.

The crazy thing about it was that Bakole was back in his home country of Congo, and he hadn’t been in camp yet. In two days, he was expected to fly to Saudi Arabia off the back of no sparring or even pad work and take on one of the most in-form heavyweights on the planet.

But to his credit, he did exactly that. He started slowly in the first round, with Parker’s advantage of having a full camp clearly evident. In round two, Bakole started to walk the New Zealander down before getting caught with a peach of a right hand on top of his head, which sent him crashing to the canvas.

Bakole’s head was there, but his legs weren’t, and referee Steve Gray waved the fight off.

Many have been quick to criticize Bakole for the shape that he turned up in, but people are seemingly forgetting this is a man who hadn’t trained, who walks around at 300 lbs+, who fights at 280 lbs, and has just been offered to fight for a life-changing amount of money.

I think you’d offer anyone the amount of money that he’d been offered to fight Joseph Parker—whether they could box or not—they’d have bitten your hand off for it.

Bakole will still face Efe Ajagba in May, as he was originally scheduled to, but it will not be for an IBF final eliminator.

A fight week that had drama and a fight night that had even more drama, The Last Crescendo certainly lived up to the hype that it had built.