By Alexey Sukachev
According to sources in southern Russia, former two-time Olympian, two-time European and one-time world amateur champion Artur Beterbiev (4-0, 4 KOs), who now competes under the aegis of Groupe Yvon Michel, can have his dream of fighting a world champion (albeit a former one) come true on Sep. 27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
Beterbiev is said to be fighting none other than WBC #9 and WBA #15 ex-IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-2, 19 KOs), who is coming off disastrous 2013 with losses to Bernard Hopkins and Adonis Stevenson.
According to the same source, this fight has been confirmed by Yvon Michel himself, which probably means that previously scheduled collision between Beterbiev and Alvaro Enriquez (12-12-2, 4 KOs), which is set for Aug. 22 is off, though no confirmation of that has been received. Beterbiev was previously rumored to fight another ex-champion Jeff Lacy, but Lacy fought and lost to Umberto Savigne instead.
In other Beterbiev news, Artur is reportedly considering a partial comeback to the amateur ranks in the near future in order to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics – although not for his native Russia but for his newly adopted homeland of Canada.
