Artur Beterbiev vs. Sullivan Barrera purse bid on 10/5

By Boxing News - 09/24/2015 - Comments

beterbiev1022By Dan Ambrose: A purse bid has been scheduled for October 5th next month for the IBF 175lb eliminator bout between unbeaten two time Russian Olympian #2 IBF Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9 KOs) and Cuban #8 IBF Sullivan Barrera (16-0, 11 KOs) at the IBF’s office in Springfield, New Jersey.

The winner of the Beterbiev-Barrera fight will become the IBF mandatory challenger to IBF champion Sergey Kovalev. Beterbiev could have had the fight with Kovalev already for November 28th in Moscow, Russia, but he can make more money if he becomes the IBF mandatory challenger, which will enable him to get a larger purse split of the revenue for the fight.

Beterbiev will get three-fourths the bid to Barrera’s one fourth. The starting bid will begin at $100K, but it will obviously move up from that low figure. Beterbiev, 30, looks to have the kind of talent to one day make him a champion at light heavyweight. But before he can do that, he has to get past a tough obstacle in the 33-year-old Barrera and 32-year-old Kovalev.

Beterbiev has an advantage over Kovalev in that he beat him twice in the amateur ranks in Russia. However, Kovalev wasn’t as good then as he is now. But his fighting style is still essentially the same as it was then.

If Beterbiev can crowd Kovalev and pound him on the inside like he did in the past, then he’ll have a very good shot at beating him again. Kovalev still doesn’t have a very good inside game. He’s more of an outside to medium distance puncher. He’s nearly helpless in close.

Beterbiev looks better than Barrera, so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem for him to beat the slower Cuban, who also doesn’t fight well on the inside. Cuban contender Yunieski Gonzalez looks to be a better fighter than Barrera at this point in his career.

“It is somewhat deceiving that we have to go to the purse bid,” said Beterbiev’s promoter, GYM president Yvon Michel. “According to Barrera’s promoter (Kathy Duva, Main Events), he cannot enter Canada. Should GYM win the purse bid and then Barrera is unable to fight in Canada, we will have to start the process all over again. We intend to win the purse bid and give Artur a fight in Quebec, in November, regardless of the opponent.”

Brian Viloria with chance to win two titles against Roman Gonzalez

Former three time world champion Brian Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) has an opportunity to win two titles when he faces unbeaten WBC World flyweight champion and Ring pound-for-pound No.1 champion Roman Gonzalez (43-0, 27 KOs) next month in their fight on HBO pay-per-view on the undercard of the headliner fight between IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) and IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) on October 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

It’s difficult to picture the 34-year-old Viloria winning the Ring pound-for-pound title, because he’s not done much in recent years to suggest that he’s a fighter at that level. The 28-year-old Gonzalez has looked really sharp lately, and he seems to be still getting better at this point in his career.

Roman Gonzalez recently took Floyd Mayweather Jr’s number 1 spot in the P4P ranking after he retired recently following his win over Andre Berto.

Viloria has the punching power to defeat Gonzalez, but he’s going to need a really good chin as well for him to be able to take the heavy shots that he’s going to be getting hit with by Gonzalez all night long.

Viloria is taking one of the best fighters in the sport in the three division world champion Gonzalez. It’s a fight where Viloria will get a ton of praise if he wins. But even if he gets beaten, he can still win a lot of fans if he makes it exciting and gives Gonzalez problems.
Bradley Saunders apologizes for head-butt in Renald Garrido fight

British light welterweight prospect Bradley Saunders (12-1) has apologized to boxing fans for his head-butt disqualification loss to journeyman Renald Garrido (15-11-1) last Saturday night in a fight that took place at the Olympia, in Liverpool, UK.

Saunders had been knocked down in the 6th round, when he resorted to head-butting Garrido. The fight was immediately halted with Saunders being disqualified. Saunders looked like he was going to be knocked out in that fight had it been allowed to continue.

The disqualification for his head-butt only saved Saunders from what would have likely been an embossing knockout defeat. Saunders lost by virtue of the head-butt, but he didn’t get seen being laid out on the canvas in the traditional way of being stopped.

“I apologize to everybody for the way it ended,” said the 29-year-old Saunders. “Left hand went the second round, right the fourth. I didn’t want to turn my back or take a knee so that was my way of keeping him off, in the heat of the moment…it is what it is and all I can do is apologize, but if people don’t like violence then they shouldn’t be watching boxing. My hands are in splints right now, I can’t even pull my boxer shorts up on my own!” Saunders added.

Saunders could wind up having surgery on both hands in the near future. It’s unclear if he’ll be interested in facing Garrido a second time once his hands heal up. It might be best for him to steer clear of Garrido because that fighter has a high work rate and the kind of stamina that would always give Saunders problems.



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