Beterbiev stops Maderna

By Boxing News - 06/04/2016 - Comments

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(Photo Credit: Dave Nadkarni/Premier Boxing Champions) By Jeff Aranow: Unbeaten light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (10-0, 10 KOs) showed no signs of ring rust on Saturday night in blowing out 2008 Argentinian Olympian Ezequiel “El Olympico” Maderna (23-3, 15 KOs) in a 4th round knockout on Premier Boxing champions on ESPN from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Beterbiev, 31, knocked Maderna down four times in the fight in putting him down two times in the 3rd and two more times in the 4th.

The fight was halted in the 4th after Maderna’s cornerman tossed in the towel to let the referee know that they wanted the fight stopped. The official time of the stoppage was at 0:56 of the 4th round.

Maderna lost a point in the 3rd round for spitting out his mouth piece after being knocked down.

Beterbiev hadn’t fought for an entire year since his 7th round knockout victory over Woody Johnson last year in June 2015. Tonight, Beterbiev looked a little more muscular and heavy than he had in the past. Beterbiev is a large light heavyweight anyway, as he’s capable of fighting at cruiserweight if he wanted to. Beterbiev has to drain down to 175 to make weight. Beterbiev definitely looked like the bigger fighter tonight.

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Beterbiev didn’t look particularly fast in terms of hand and foot speed. He was slow in moving around the ring. He reminded me of a light heavyweight version of a young George Foreman with the way he was clubbing Maderna with slow punches but with tremendous power. Maderna was able to connect with shots of his own, but it didn’t stop Beterbiev from walking through the punches to land his bigger shots.

The positive from tonight’s performance from Beterbiev:

Power

Ability to cut off the ring

Punch placement

What not to like about Beterbiev’s performance:

Slow hand and foot speed

Leaky defensive

WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson could give Beterbiev problems with his hand speed. If the two of them fight each other, Beterbiev will need a good chin to take the shots that Stevenson will be nailing him with because he’ll definitely get his punches in first due to his speed advantage. However, Beterbiev is more than strong enough to give Stevenson a lot of problems with his power if he can get to him often enough. Stevenson is a good puncher, but he’s vulnerable just like any fighter when he gets hit hard. Beterbiev could be the kryptonite that defeats “super man” Stevenson.