By Luke Furman
The future looks promising for light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev. While he's scheduled to take part in a stay-busy fight against Isidro Ranoni Prieto on December 23rd in Canada, the protégé of the Goupe Yvon Michel (GYM) could very well get a championship bout in 2017.
In the event Beterbiev (10-0, 10 KO) beats Prieto (26-1-3, 22 KO), he would be the number two ranked fighter under the WBO. The current number one is Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KO).
Kovalev lost WBO/WBA/IBF world titles to Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KO) last month in Las Vegas. They are scheduled to take part in a rematch in the first half of 2017. The winner of the rematch would eventually have to make a mandatory defense against Beterbiev.
Beterbiev's promoter, Yvon Michel, is examining all of the possible routes. If they are unable to get to the Ward-Kovalev winner by way of the WBO, they will also try through the IBF.
Beterbiev has been ordered the opportunity to take part in an IBF final eliminator in early 2017. If he won that fight, the Ward-Kovalev winner would have to face him next.
"We are looking at all our options," said Michel to TVA Sports. "If Ward and Kovalev are fighting against each other, the winner will have to deliver a mandatory defense for the IBF title by September."
The president of GYM is nevertheless sure of one thing: the next fight for Beterbiev will take place in the United States, to give better visibility to the slugger
Beterbiev, however, is staying focused on his upcoming fight.
"I never listen to what's being said about a possible fight for a title," said the 31-year-old. "I am completely focused on the next fight. I never look beyond my next fight. For now, I can not predict what will happen in the ring. I trained very hard and I gave everything in my preparation. I hope to show what I can do on December 23. "
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
