By Luke Furman

Artur Beterbiev (10-0, 10 KOs) is ready to get back in the mix when he takes on Paraguay slugger and reigning WBC Latino light heavyweight champion Isidro Ranoni Prieto (26-1-3, 22 KOs) on December 23 at Casino de Lac Leamy in Quebec.

Beterbiev is hoping to land a world title shot after this outing. He ranked in the top ten by all of the sanctioning bodies.

The tough Russian fighter is sitting at International Boxing Federation (IBF) #2, World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) #3, and World Boxing Organization (WBO) #4.

This is Beterbiev's second fight of the year. He had a one-year absence due to a shoulder injury. He climbed back in the ring this past June 4 at the Bell Centre against Argentine Olympian Ezequiel Maderna, who failed to get through the fourth round.

Beterbiev's promoter, Yvon Michel of GYM, tried to get  better opponents, but fighters either refused or wanted a lot of money to get in the ring.

"We tried to get Sullivan Barrera and it did not work out. We tried [Issac] Chilemba, but he refused. At the same time, I understand the reluctance of all these world ranked fighters, because it is a major risk for regular money. They are asking for $200,000 or $300,000 in pay," Michel told RDS.

Beterbiev may soon become a mandatory challenger under the IBF and Michel is already looking at the upcoming fight between IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and challenger Andre Ward - which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on November 19th.

Michel believes Kovalev would fight Beterbiev right away, but he doesn't hold the same confidence with Ward.

"The last time Ward fought against a big name, it was in 2011 against Carl Froch. If [Ward] wins, he will sit on [the titles] for a long time. If Kovalev wins, we know that he would then face Beterbiev very quickly. "

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.