Artur Beterbiev was specific in his terms prior to his most recent ring appearance—deliver a big fight for the next outing.
“Bob Arum kept his word,” the unbeaten 34-year old from Montreal, Canada by way of Russia said to BoxingScene.com of the Hall of Fame promoter lining up this weekend’s title unification bout versus Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk (17-0, 14KOs). “It’s a big fight, the fight that I really wanted when I signed (with Top Rank). I’m very (pleased) it’s happening.”
The pair of unbeaten light heavyweight knockout artists collide this Friday at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ESPN will televise the virtual pick-‘em matchup, as they have each of the combatants’ prior ring adventure.
Beterbiev headlined a May 4 ESPN card—just five weeks after Gvozdyk’s 5th round stoppage of Doudou Ngumbu to defend his lineal championship on the same network—scoring a 5th round knockout of his own in turning away the challenge of Radivoje Kalajdzic. The timing of the bout was crucial, as Beterbiev (14-0, 14KOs)—a devout Muslim—needed to get in a fight before the holy season of Ramadan. His demand even before the second defense of his light heavyweight title was to make sure his next fight was even bigger, and also one which would take place within the calendar year.
Not since 2016 has Beterbiev fought twice in the same year, and never in a bout as meaningful as what awaits him on Friday.
“I knew I would be kept active when I joined Top Rank,” noted Beterbiev. “But I told everyone that I wanted a unification fight. I want to prove that I’m the best, and couldn’t do that when I wasn’t fighting the other champions.
“Now, I get my wish.”
The timing of the contest is perfect, as every major light heavyweight titlist will fight within a four-weekend stretch. Unbeaten titlist Dmitry Bivol recently defended his belt with a 12-round decision of Lenin Castillo last Saturday in Chicago, Illinois. Waiting in the wings is the highly anticipated Nov. 2 superfight between three-time and defending ttlist Sergey Kovalev and World middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who moves up two divisions in a quest to win a legitimate title in a third weight division.
Friday’s winner will be in a great position to challenge either of the remaining divisional peers. Of course, he fully acknowledges that such supply goes far beyond his own demand.
“I asked for this fight and got this fight, so now it’s up to me to deliver,” notes Beterbiev. “I trained very hard and ready to win, so let’s see what happens. I can’t ask for too many fights in a row. After this fight, then I’ll ask for the next (big) one.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
