By Allan Fox: Undefeated light heavyweight prospect Artur Beterbiev (6-0, 6 KOs) put the 175lb division on notice tonight in obliterating former IBF 175lb champion Tavoris Cloud (24-3, 19 KOs) via a 2nd round knockout at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Beterbiev, 29, knocked the 32-year-old Cloud down 4 times in the fight before the fight was halted in the 2nd round after Beterbiev knocked Cloud down with a right uppercut after flurrying on him in the corner. Referee Michael Griffin stopped the fight at 0:38 of the 2nd round with Cloud down.
Beterbiev, who just turned pro last year in May of 2013, knocked Cloud down 3 times in the 1st round. The first knockdown came after Beterbiev trapped Cloud up against the ropes. Beterbiev then hit Cloud with 6 straight left uppercuts to the head followed by 2 fight uppercuts to put Cloud down for the 1st time.
After the action resumed, Beterbiev dropped Cloud quickly with a flurry of shots. Then finally in the final seconds of the round, Beterbiev hit Cloud with a series of left hands to knock him down for the third time in the round as time ran out. Cloud then had to get up after the round had expired in order to beat the count.
In the 2nd round, Beterbiev trapped a still badly hurt Cloud in the corner and then flurried on him, causing Cloud to hit the canvas for the 3rd time in the fight. The bout was then stopped.
Beterbiev looks like he would give the best fighters in the light heavyweight division major problems.
With the kind of punching power and pressure that Beterbiev puts on his opponents, he would give guys like Adonis Stevenson, Jean Pascal, Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev huge problems. Hopkins will likely never choose to fight Beterbiev because he appears to be on his way out of the sport, but Pascal, Stevenson and Kovalev have no excuses for not fighting him.
Beterbiev is a two time Olympian from Russia. He twice beat Kovalev in the amateur ranks.
Other boxing results on the card:
Dierry Jean TKO 5 Daniel Ruiz
Antonin Decarie TKO 5 Ivan Pereyra
Kevin Bizier TKO 1 Laszlo Fazekas
Yves Ulysse Jr UD 6 Krystian Huczko
Erik Bazinyan UD 6 Baptiste Castegnaro
Steven Butler TKO 2 Bernard Follea
Cedric Spera UD 4 Stephane Ouellet
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