By Vadim Pushkin

Light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev is waiting for his opportunity to enter a world title eliminator, which is going to place him one step away from a big opportunity.

Beterbiev saw action last week at the Casino du Lac-Leamy. Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) blew away Argentine Isidro Ranoni Prieto (26-2-3, 22 KOs) with a knockout victory at 2 minutes, 44 seconds of the first round - and in doing so retained the NABA title.

"I was not aiming for such a fast knockout," Beterbiev said to RDS. "I had prepared for twelve rounds as I always do. After that, my coach asked me to take my time and be on my guard, because Prieto could be dangerous. I'm a bit surprised, I did not expect the fight to end so quickly."

The possible opponent was going to be Igor Mikhalkin (18-1, 9 KOs), who is ranked at number seven, but he seems to be focusing on a possible EBU title fight with Robert Stieglitz in March.

The IBF eliminator would take place on a date in February or March, but the opponent is unknown at the moment.

Artur's brother and co-trainer, Abakar Beterbiev, said they are waiting for information from the sanctioning body on who they will fight, as several of the ranked contenders have already rejected the idea of fighting Beterbiev in the eliminator.

"After the New Year, we will begin negotiations to stage the next fight, which is going to involve becoming the mandatory challenger for the title," Abakar Beterbiev said to Oleg Bagatov.

"The bout will be scheduled for February or March 2017 and, most likely, it will be held in the United States. It's not exactly clear who will be his opponent. We are now awaiting a decision by the IBF leadership, to find out with whom Arthur must conduct this fight, and the winner of this bout will be the mandatory challenger for a championship fight. I believe that clarity with the sanctioning body and the opponent will become clear in the middle of January."

A victory in the IBF eliminator would make Beterbiev the mandatory challenger to rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, which should be taking place before June.