Beterbiev wants Kovalev fight, not worried about Campillo fight

By Boxing News - 04/02/2015 - Comments

press conference-0003 - Artur Beterbiev(Credit: Amanda Kwok / PBC on CBS) By Allan Fox: This Saturday night unbeaten #11 WBA light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) will be fighting 36-year-old former WBA cruiserweight champion Gabriel Campillo (25-6-1, 12 KOs) in a 12 round bout on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson vs. Sakio Bika fight at the Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Beterbiev isn’t worried at all about the Campillo fight. He sees it as a bout that he’ll definitely win. The bout that he wants is against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.

Beterbiev defeated Kovalev in the amateur ranks, and he feels that he’ll have no problems repeating that process in the pro ranks if he can only get a shot at him.

“Why not face Kovalev? I’m ready. When I turned professional my goal was to meet the champions. He’s a champion now and I’d like to face the champions,” Beterbiev said.

Beterbiev may want the fight with Kovalev, but he’s probably going to need to wait in line for a while before he’ll get a shot. It could be a long wait, because Kovalev is interested in bigger fights against the likes of Adonis Stevenson.

If Kovalev can get past that fight then he’ll probably be looking to face Jean Pascal again in another Canadian based fight. Beterbiev is still too much of an unknown fighter for him to get a shot at Kovalev.

“I don’t think this [Campillo] is a big challenge for me,” Beterbiev said. “I’m ready to face the world champions and raise the bar higher. This is just another opponent for me. This is another step that will move me closer to facing the champions at 175 pounds. I want to put on a solid fight and show that I’m one of the best fighters in this division.”

Beterbiev will need to look a lot better against Campillo than he did in his last fight against Jeff Page Jr. Beterbiev was dropped by Page Jr in the 1st round after walking into a shot. Beterbiev failed to jab or use head movement while he was stalking Page Jr around the ring.

Beternbiev could have had a bigger fight against Isaac Chilemba. That was a fight that Chilemba and his promoter wanted, but Beterbiev failed to take that fight. If he’d had faced Chilemba and beaten him, it would have moved Beterbiev up high in the rankings to the point where he’d have been putting pressure on Kovalev and/or Juergen Braehmer. It was a good fight for Beterbiev to have taken, and yet he chose not to take the fight.

“A knockout is never a goal for me,” Beterbiev said. “I’m trying to show my work and my dedication in the ring, but usually that’s what happens. Usually I finish with a knockout but that is not my main goal. My main goal is to box and show my skills.”

Campillo has won his last three fights since being stopped in the 9th round by Andzej Fonfara in 2013. Last year, Campillo defeated previously unbeaten contender Thomas Williams Jr by a 5th round knockout. This was a fight in which Campillo came into the fight as the underdog. However, he walked Williams Jr. down and was able to batter and stop him.

“My motivation is to face the champions,” Beterbiev said. “That’s why I work so hard every day in the gym. I will get there soon.”

It won’t matter what Beterbiev wants if he can’t get past Campillo. This is a tough opponent for Beterbiev. If Beterbiev isn’t able to show improvement over the way he fought last time out against Page Jr, we could see Beterbiev taste defeat for the first time.



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