By Allan Fox: #11 WBA Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) can’t wait until he gets another fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Beterbiev defeated Kovalev while the two of them fought in the amateur ranks years ago, and Beterbiev feels he’ll be able to do it again no problem when the time comes for him to get a title shot.
As of now, Beterbiev is still climbing the ranks, and it might be a while before he’s ranked high enough to get a title shot against the hard hitting Kovalev.
Beterbiev has a fight against 36-year-old former WBA light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo (25-6-1, 11 KOs) next month on April 4th on the Adonis Stevenson vs. Sakio Bika card at the Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Beterbiev-Campillo fight is scheduled for 10 rounds, but it’ll be surprising if it lasts more than 5 or 6. Beterbiev has a lot of punching power, and he tends to give his opponents little space to get their shots off.
“I will put on a good show and fight April 4th,” Beterbiev said. “I want to continue to get better until I face Sergey Kovalev again. And I will beat him again!”
Beterbiev will definitely get another crack at Kovalev in the future, as long as both fighters keep on winning. Beterbiev has the better chance of continuing his unbeaten record than Kovalev does, as Kovalev could face the dangerous Adonis Stevenson either later this year or in 2016.
Kovalev-Stevenson would be a 50-50 fight. Beterbiev’s fighting style might be better against Stevenson than Kovalev’s, because Beterbiev absolutely smothers his opponents by getting on the inside on them and hammering them with powerful shots to the head and body. Beterbiev doesn’t give his opponents any room to get their shots off, and that makes him extremely effective.
If Beterbiev gets inside on Stevenson like he does with all of his opponents, Stevenson will have problems. Even if Stevenson tries to hold, Beterbiev will get an arm free and hammer him.
Beterbiev was sparring recently with Blake Caparello, a fighter who was halted by Kovalev last year in August by a 2nd round knockout. Caparello is really high on Beterbiev’s talent.
“This guy has some incredible brute force. He could even chase and hunt down a strong Sergey Kovalev in the ring,” Caparello said.
Beterbiev had the chance to fight #2 WBC Isaac Chilemba, but he reportedly turned the fight down and went with the older, slower and easier to hit Campillo. Beterbiev is going to need to be able to fight guys like Chilemba in the future if he wants to be able to get to the next level and pick more fans.
It’s a fighter that Beterbiev would likely do really well against. Chilemba has no inside fighting skills to speak of, and it would likely be a mismatch. Chilemba has great stamina, and he’s hard to hit if you try and nail him with something from the outside, but other than that, he wouldn’t be much of a threat to Beterbiev.
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