By Luke Furman
One of the jewels of Groupe Yvon Michel, light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9KOs) will resume action later tonight at the Bell Centre in Montreal after a year's absence.
The very talented Russian fighter feels that he has a little more pressure than usual because of the recent surgery to his right shoulder.
Beterbiev will face Ezequiel Maderna in the televised main event for Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN. The plan, according to promoter Yvon Michel, is to have the boxer fight two more times before the year is out.
In addition to trainer Marc Ramsay, Beterbiev has worked for five weeks with former top contender turned trainer John Scully.
Scully was advised by promoter Yvon Michel that he's planning to get Beterbiev in position for light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev by early next year. Kovalev holds the WBO, WBA and IBF world titles. Beterbiev was in position to face Kovalev last year, but his team felt that he needed another fight or two to get some rounds in.
"Yvon Michel wants to have Beterbiev go against Sergey Kovalev in early 2017. By that year, he will attempt to establish himself as a mandatory challenger," Scully told RDS.
Michel has already reached out to the WBO and the WBA, looking to get Beterbiev a final eliminator for his next fight.
"We have already contacted the WBO and the WBA and the first association that will give us the first opportunity, we'll take it," Michel said.
Kovalev will defend his title next month in Russia against Isaac Chilemba, and then he is already contracted to face Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward in the fall. Both Kovalev and Ward have to win their summer fights to move forward with their planned showdown on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org
