Michel Confident of Winning Beterbiev Legal Rift, Retaining Fighter

Promoter Yvon Michel of GYM is confident of winning an ongoing legal dispute with IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs).

On November 11 in Fresno, California - Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) will take on Enrico Koelling (23-1, 6 KOs). ESPN will televise the contest as part of their TV deal with Top Rank.

The bout was recently sanctioned for the vacant IBF light heavyweight title. Beterbiev-Koelling became a world title encounter after world champion Andre Ward shocked everyone by announcing his retirement from the sport two weeks ago.

Beterbiev believes his contract with Michel has expired and invalid, while the promoter feels strongly that his contract is still very valid.

The fight with Koelling was secured by Top Rank, because they won the IBF's purse bid. If Beterbiev is able to break away from Michel, he is likely going to sign with Top Rank.

Michel is very happy that Beterbiev is fighting for the world title and expects him to beat Koelling.

"We are very happy his fight was upgraded to the IBF title. Two years ago we had decided to lead him on the IBF title path, because we were convinced that in the end whoever was the champion was going to vacate in order to avoid Beterbiev. This recent development is showing that we were right and on November 11 Beterbiev will be world champion. We have led Beterbiev to being universally recognized as a top contender and being ranked near the very top by all of the major sanctioning associations," Michel told BoxingScene.com.

"As for our litigation with him, we know that we've done an exceptional job with him to given him the right fights, the right US television exposure with Showtime, CBS, Spike TV, ESPN... better purses than the majority of the top contenders and we are confident that a judge will eventually confirm the validity of our contract. We are presently waiting a court date."