By Dan Ambrose: Undefeated #10 WBA light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) showed excellent power in destroying American Jeff Page Jr (15-1, 10 KOs) last Friday night by a 2nd round knockdown at the Colisee de Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
The 29-year-old Beterbiev was knocked down in the 1st round by a right hand he never saw. It turned out to be a wakeup call for Beterbiev, as he came out with a vengeance in the 2nd round and knocked Page Jr down three times in the round before the fight was halted at 2:21 of the round by referee Jean-Guy Brousseau.
Beterbiev said afterwards that he was sleepy in the opening round, and the knockdown woke him up. After that he was okay, but he needed something to get him to weak up and start fighting effectively.
“I felt a bit sleepy before the fight. I think I just lost my concentration for a fraction of a second,” Beterbiev said. “I got a bit angry after that, and I decided to go forward. I have a lot to learn in professional boxing.”
Beterbiev says that he wants to fight for a world title in 2015. If that turns out to be the case then the chances are that he’ll wind up facing WBA champ Sergey Kovalev unless he can get a fight somehow against the WBA World champion Jurgen Braehmer, which would seem highly unlikely given the careful match-making that’s been done by Braehmer’s management.
Beterbiev showed little in the way of head movement or in the jab department last night. That’s something that he’s going to need to improve on before he gets in the ring against the likes of Kovalev or Braehmer. Beterbiev can’t just follow his opponents around without throwing jabs to set up his power shots.
Beterbiev got Page’s attention in the 2nd round when he landed a short left hook that hurt him. Page then immediately retreated. Beterbiev followed after him and clubbed him to the canvas with a shot that landed partially behind the head. On the second knockdown, Beterbiev connected on a short but powerful right hand that dropped Page in his tracks. In the third and final knockdown, Beterbiev chased Page down and dropped him with a left hook to the head. It was a decent shot, but nothing special. Page was just hurt and too far gone at that point to stay on his feet when hit.
Beterbiev’s inside fighting skills would make him dangerous against the likes of Adonis Stevenson. If he could close the distance and get inside on Stevenson, Beterbiev would have an excellent chance of knocking him out. With that said, getting a fight against Stevenson might prove to be next to impossible without the help of the sanctioning bodies, because it’s highly unlikely that Stevenson’s adviser Al Haymon would ever agree to put him in a fight against the dangerous Russian fighter. Beterbiev is too much of a threat, and he’s the opposite of the type of opponents that Stevenson has been matched up with since he won the WBC title.
Comments are closed.