By Allan Fox: Undefeated light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (8-0, 8 KOs) has reportedly signed a contract with adviser Al Haymon in a move to help guide the career of the talented fighter. Beterbiev, 30, is promoted by Yvon Michel of Groupe Yvon Michel. Beterbiev fought in the Olympics twice for his native Russia.
Due to his lengthy amateur career, Beterbiev is getting a late start in professional boxing. That’s one of the reasons why he’s being moved up so quickly. Another reason is because he picked up a lot of experience in the amateurs in facing high level competition, and he doesn’t need to burn through six to seven years like a lot of fighters tend to do in facing lower level opposition instead of moving their career a long at a faster pace.
Beterbiev will be fighting Alexander Johnson (16-2, 7 KOs) this Friday, June 12th on Premier Boxing Champions from the UIC Pavilion, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This is a step down for Beterbiev from his last fight against Gabriel Campillo, who Beterbiev destroyed in 4 rounds last April. Ranked at #2 IBF, #2 WBO, #4 WBA, #4 WBC, Beterbiev is closing in on a world title shot against one of the champions.
It’s going to be up to Beterbiev’s adviser Al Haymon and his promoter Michel who they want to target for his world title fight. It’s likely going to be a lot easier getting a fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev than it would for Beterbiev to get a fight against WBA champion Juergen Braehmer.
WBC champion Adonis Stevenson is also a possibility for Beterbiev. It probably doesn’t matter which of the three that Beterbiev fights because he matches up well with all of them. But getting a shot against Braehmer might prove difficult unless Beterbiev can become the WBA mandatory for him, and even then it’s likely Braehmer will make Beterbiev wait until he can no longer put the fight off.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Braehmer looks to steer around Beterbiev by petitioning the World Boxing Association to allow him to fight someone else. That’s why I think it’s going to be a really lengthy thing for Beterbiev to get a shot at Braehmer.
“We are particularly proud of the trust and loyalty that these three super athletes demonstrate to GYM and for whom we expect a particularly ambitious agenda in the months to come,” Michel said via ESPN.com.
Beterbiev has an eight-fight knockout streak going since he turned pro in 2013. There’s little chance that Beterbiev’s opponent will make it the full 12 round distance with him. Johnson is a decent opponent, but he’s clearly nowhere near the same class as Beterbiev is.
Beterbiev has the kind of talent to make him the light heavyweight division’s version of Gennady Golovkin. He has a very promising future. If Beterbiev can fight frequently like Golovkin, he’ll build a large fan base in a real hurry.
The Beterbiev-Johnson fight will be on the same card as WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara vs. Delvin Rodriguez.
Here are the fights on the card:
Erislandy Lara vs. Delvin Rodriguez
Eleider Alvarez vs. Anatoliy Dudchenko
Anthony Peterson vs. Ammeth Diaz
Artur Szpilka vs. Manuel Quezada
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