By Dan Ambrose: #11 WBA light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) will be fighting on April 4th against a still to be determined opponent in a 10 round scheduled bout on the same card as headliner WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in Quebec, Canada.
Beterbiev, 30, could have fought #2 WBC 175 pound contender Isaac Chilemba, but either Beterbiev or his promoters were reportedly not interested in that fight. Chilemba thinks Beterbiev is scared of him and he’s been letting boxing fans know about it on his twitter account.
It’s unclear why Beterbiev or his management don’t want to setup a fight between him and Chilemba. It’s a fight that would give Beterbiev a huge jump in his rankings, and that’s something he could really use right now. Beterbiev just turned 30-years-old, and obviously he doesn’t have a ton of time to make a mark in professional boxing.
Beterbiev represented Russian in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, but he was beaten by Zhang Xiaoping (China) 8-2 in 2008, and Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) 17-13 in 2012 in the heavyweight division.
Beterbiev should have turned pro after his loss to Ziaoping in the 2008 Olympics rather than sticking around in the amateur ranks for another four years. That move took away four years of Beterbiev’s career, because he could have been fighting at 175 during those years and would have had a good chance of winning a world title by now.
“I will fight Beterbiev, we have offered him fight. His camp have not accepted yet. I think they are scared @Main_Events,” Chilemba said on his social media account. ”Must be a thing with boxers in Canadian camps. First @AdonisSuperman ran scared now @ArturBeterbiev runs scared. Step up or step aside. I am a better fighter than then & @ArturBeterbiev knows it. Hey @yvonmichelGYM tell the truth. Your boy [Beterbiev] couldn’t do anything to me in sparring & now you scared. 2 rounds?? What a joke! @Main_Events. Just in case you were confused. That’s me at No 2 and scared s–tless at No 11. @Main_Events @yvonmichelGYM,” Chilemba said.
Beterbiev turned pro in 2013, and he’s looked good in beating the likes of Tavoris Cloud, Alvaro Enriquez and Billy Bailey. However, Beterbiev didn’t look particularly impressive in his last fight against Jeff Page Jr last December.
Page Jr knocked Beterbiev down in the 1st round with a right hand to the head. Beterbiev came back to knock Page Jr down three times in the 2nd round to score a 2nd round KO. But the fight showed a huge flaw in Beterbiev’s game that will likely be exposed by other fighters in the light heavyweight division unless Beterbiev can learn to use his head more and develop a jab to help setup his attacks.
In the Page Jr fight, Beterbiev was constantly coming forward without moving his head and throwing a jab. This enabled Page Jr to nail him with shots. If Page Jr was able to hit Beterbiev, then you can imagine that other fighters will be able to do so as well in the division. Beterbiev gets hit way too much for his own good. If he doesn’t fix his defense by the time he gets to the likes of Sergey Kovalev and Stevenson, then he’ll be in for a world of hurt.
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