Artur Beterbiev to return to the ring in May

By Boxing News - 04/05/2015 - Comments

beterbiev1022By Allan Fox: #7 WBC, #12 WBA, #13 IBF, #13 WBO light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (8-0, 8 KOs) will be back in the ring next month in May against an opponent still to be determined. Beterbiev, 30, will be making a quick return to the ring after dispatching former WBA light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo (25-7-1, 12 KOs) last Saturday night in a 4th round knockout at the Pepsi Coliseum, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Beterbiev blasted Campillo out with a left-right combination that knocked him clean out at 2:22 of the 4th. Referee Marlon Wright didn’t even have to count after seeing how badly Campillo was hurt.

Beterbiev didn’t get hit much in the fight, and because of that he was able to return to the ring quickly.

“We’re planning to fight again in May,” Beterbiev said via Fightnews.com, “and I’ll leave whoever my opponent will be in God’s hands.”

The opponent will be picked out by Beterbiev’s promoter Yvon Michel of GYM. Given that there’s only a month to go before Beterbiev fights again, it’s doubtful that they’ll be able to get a step up opponent for him. There are a huge number of contenders for Beterbiev’s promoter to potentially pool from for his next fight, but it’s not likely that they’ll be able to get someone of real quality with a little more than four weeks’ notice.

An ideal opponent would be Isaac Chilemba or Eleider Alvarez, but those guys likely wouldn’t agree to fight Beterbiev with so little time to prepare for the fight. At best, we’re probably looking at Beterbiev facing a fringe contender along the lines of Sullivan Barrera, Maxim Vlasov, Yuniesky Gonzalez or Konni Konrad.

With only eight fights under his belt, it’s important that Beterbiev fight as frequently as possible in order to give him more experience and get him known more by boxing fans. He needs as fan base so that he can put pressure on champions like Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson and Juergen Braehmer to fight him. However, even if Beterbiev becomes incredibly popular, it still doesn’t mean that he’ll get a fight against someone like Stevenson. He’s had the chance to fight guys like Kovalev, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal and he failed to make those fights.

“In this fight I was able to really show what I’m capable of and my experience paid off,” Beterbiev said about the Campillo fight. “When I watched footage of Campillo I noticed that he did a lot of running. I wasn’t trying to be the aggressor. I just stuck to my game plan. I’m very happy to be on the big stage on CBS at such an early point in my professional career. This all came together very quickly and I hope to be back soon.”

At one time, Campillo was a very good fighter. But at 36, he’s really getting up there in age and it’s not surprising he was stopped so quickly by Beterbiev. It was a pretty brutal looking knockout to watch. Beterbiev hurt Campillo with two big shots and had him out on his feet when he finished him off with a right hand.

Beterbiev’s goal is to get Kovalev in the ring, as he feels he’s got the skills to beat him. Beterbiev, a two-time Russian Olympian, twice defeated Kovalev when the two of them were amateur fighters in Russia. Beterbiev feels confident that he has Kovalev’s number, and he thinks he’ll beat him in the pros like he did in the amateur ranks. Kovalev doesn’t seem to be in a rush to fight Beterbiev though. Kovalev wants to fight WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson if he can get him inside the ring somehow.



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