Russian Artur Beterbiev on Sunday night in New York knocked out American Joe Smith Jr. in the second round by technical knockout in a light heavyweight unification bout and became the WBC, WBO and IBF world champion.
Beterbiev improved the already impressive stats – now the 37-year-old boxer has 18 first wins in 18 fights. No champion can boast of such a record. Closest to these indicators in the ratio of fight count and early successes are WBA (Super), WBC, Japanese IBF bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs), WBA (Super) holder and IBF belts in Uzbekistan’s second bantamweight Murodjon Akhmadaliev (10-0, 7 KOs), WBA (Super) and IBF Kazakh middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) and champion WBC heavyweight Ilunga Makabu (29-2, 25 KOs) from DR Congo.
Smith initially appeared to be the weaker light heavyweight champion. The American won the WBO belt in April 2021 in a duel with Russian Maxim Vlasov, who still disagrees with the judges’ decision. And even then, on the official resources of the TopRank promotion company, representing the interests of Smith and Beterbiev, an announcement of their unification fight appeared, it took more than a year for his organization (meanwhile , the two managed to fight each other successfully).
And Beterbiev approached the June bout as a hardcore favorite. To be objective, no one believed in Smith’s chances – the Russian’s win coefficient was only 1.15.
Beterbiev’s fastest victory in six years
Before this fight, Beterbiev was presented as a Canadian boxer (Arthur lives in Montreal). But this is no longer surprising, because a few Russian boxers are allowed to participate in international fights only under special conditions. So, Dmitry Bivol and Sergey Kovalev were presented as boxers from the American states. At the same time, Beterbiev, at the end of his speech in the ring, said: “Nokhchiycho est la force” (“Chechnya is the force.” – Translation of Chechen).
To describe the fight itself, which lasted just over five minutes, suffice it to point out the fact that Smith scored three knockdowns before the match was called off. Without detracting from Beterbiev’s merits, Smith decides to act as inappropriately as possible: to attempt to enter the wheelhouse with Arthur would be suicide. As Smith’s strengths, his … clumsiness (respectively, his unpredictability) and his power were called upon. Apparently, the American himself mistakenly believed these statements.
“Joe was kind of open, and it was easy for me to get him,” Beterbiev commented of the in-ring fight. “We both have a good shot, we both tried to strike first. This time I was lucky, I managed to do it first.
Beterbiev rolled over his opponent and won the third title – WBO. As we have already written, the Russian never handed over the matter to the referee’s decisions… True, I remember the strange count of the referees from Beterbiev’s first unification fight in October 2019 against Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdik. By the time the fight was stopped in the tenth round, for some reason it was Gvozdyk who was leading on the notes, who lost his WBC belt in that fight.
Another interesting point. Beterbiev hasn’t won this fast since December 2016, when in Canada he beat Paraguay’s Isidro Prieto by technical knockout in the first round. And in the next fight in November 2017, Beterbiev won the IBF belt, beating Germany’s Enrico Kelling in the 12th round. And this fight was the longest of Beterbiev’s career.
By the way, Artur became the third Russian who won three championship belts. Previously, Konstantin Tszyu was the IBF, WBA, WBC junior welterweight champion, and that was enough for the title of absolute world champion. Later, for this status, it became necessary to win the WBO title as well. Sergey Kovalev also owned the WBA (Super), WBO, IBF light heavyweight belts.
What can prevent the fight between Bivol and Beterbiev?
Smith also suffered the fourth loss of his career. The last time the American lost was in March 2019 to another Russian, Dmitry Bivol, who continues to hold the WBA (Super) belt. And, perhaps, the meeting with Smith can be called the most difficult in Bivol’s career. Yes, yes, this fight, and not the recent confrontation with the best boxer, all weight categories combined, the Mexican Saul Alvarez! Then Smith managed to shake Bivol a bit, but nothing more. Beterbiev’s fight with Smith went differently.
Now there is such a situation that all light heavyweight belts belong to Russian boxers, which, of course, is very pleasant. Bivol and Beterbiev have repeatedly declared their desire to fight face to face. Now, according to Beterbiev, nothing has changed:
– Unification fights are better for me. I want to be the undisputed champion.
This question was asked in the context of what was announced before the meeting in New York: the winner will face the WBO mandatory challenger the Briton Anthony Yard (22-2, KO 21). He may be known to Russian viewers for a spectacular fight in Chelyabinsk in August 2019 with Sergey Kovalev, when the British boxer lost earlier than expected, and Kovalev immediately began to prepare for a meeting with Saul Alvarez (lost more sooner than expected in November 2019).
Okay, the prospect of boxing with a not-so-famous Yard against the backdrop of a fight for the absolute champion is a passable idea. But there may not be many options. There is a big risk that the Russian boxers will not hold the long-awaited unification fight.
The issue is not even the difficulty of organizing the fight between Bivol and Beterbiev, because the boxers have contracts with different promotion companies (Matchroom – Bivol, TopRank – Beterbiev). And this is banal because of the situation, of which Dmitry became a hostage. And he deliberately became and went for this completely justified.
In the contract for Bivol’s first fight with Saul Alvarez, there was a rematch option, it’s the Mexican who can activate it, and he has a decent amount of time for that. Canelo already has a fight scheduled for September 17 with Kazakh Gennady Golovkin, after which he will make a decision on Bivol. The Russian will have to wait.
Yes, Bivolu will be set up to fight during this interval, Joshua Buatsi, Gilberto Ramirez, Callum Smith are named as rivals but it has been reported that Canelo is adamantly against Bivol and Beterbiev meeting.
As a result, Bivol has to wait for the result of Canelo’s meeting with Golovkin and then Alvarez’s decision. So far, the Mexican in every interview talks about the desire for revenge. If everything is so, then Dmitry will have to arrange an intermediate fight (the boxers mentioned above are a formidable force, especially Ramirez), then go to Alvarez, and only then turn to unification.
According to this scenario, the fight, with successful coincidences (and with the victories of both Russian boxers), will take place in a year and a half at the earliest. We assume that boxers of this level have two fights a year. And Beterbiev is now 37 years old… Yes, Artur showed in a duel with Smith that he is in incredible shape, but the sporting age of any athlete has its limits. Therefore, from the point of view of interest and competition, it is better to fight Beterbiev and Bivol now. But we come back to the question – is it realistic to hold this meeting in the near future?
Bivol co-promoter German Titov thinks it’s possible.
Beterbiev and Bivol both want this fight. The stake will be the title of absolute world champion. And if you fought in Russia, here in Yekaterinburg, that would be the most wonderful thing that could happen in the world of boxing. This fight can only be done by the end of the year, I hope we will succeed,” said German Titov, CEO of RCC Boxing Promotions.
It is unlikely that any of the organizations today will agree to sanction such a meeting on the territory of Russia. In addition, at the moment, no fights are sanctioned in Russia. Therefore, the duel of the Russians, who will be represented by a Canadian and an American, should take place abroad. Is it interesting and profitable for the promoters and the organizers to make a fight between two representatives of Russia in the USA? Bivol and Beterbiev are quite famous around the world, and it’s much more profitable for promoters to match these stars with their boxers from the UK, USA, etc., than with each other. And here we again come up against the fact that professional boxing is primarily a business.
I really want the sporting principle to prevail and in the near future we will see a really brilliant battle of Russian boxers for the title of absolute world champion.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
