By Jim Dower: Light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (10-0, 10 KOs) will be fighting this Friday night on December 23 against #7 WBO Isidro Ranoni Prieto (26-1-3, 22 KO) at the Casino du Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. The highly ranked Beterbiev is trying not to look past Prieto, but it’s hard not to.
Beterbiev, 31, could be fighting the winner of the rematch between IBF/WBA/WBO 175lb champion Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev. The winner of the fight will need to make a mandatory defense of their IBF title, and Beterbiev is the top guy in the rankings for the winner.
If Ward-Kovalev fight fails to take place due to Ward dropping out by vacating the belt or retiring, then Beterbiev would be facing Kovalev for the vacant IBF title. Beterbiev has already beaten Kovalev in the amateurs twice, so it would seem that he has his number.
We’ll see if Beterbiev still is the better fighter though now that he’s in the pro ranks with Kovalev, and the game is different than in the amateurs. If Beterbiev gets by the 30-year-old Prieto this Saturday night, then he’ll absolutely be fighting for a world title in 2017. That would be great news for boxing fans if Beterbiev can fight the Ward-Kovalev winner.
The Argentinian Prieto is a good fighter, but he’s going to have his hands full against Beterbiev. This is a very, very tough fight for Prieto to be taking, and he doesn’t have the experience to be fighting someone this good. Prieto’s toughest opponent thus far in his 7-year pro career is Eleider Alvarez, who beat him last year in August 2015 by a 12 round unanimous decision. The fight was not close. Alvarez won it by the scores 117-111 x 3. Most of the guys that Prieto has beaten have been 2nd tier fighters like Samuel Miller, Mohammad Said and Ruben Acosta.
Beterbiev and Prieto will be fighting for the vacant World Boxing Council Silver light heavyweight title. Normally that puts you in position to fight for the WBC 175lb title, but it’s not likely that Beterbiev will bother with that. Adonis Stevenson is the WBC champion, and it still could take Beterbiev a long time before he’s able to get a crack at that title. Stevenson is going to be fighting his #1 mandatory in 2017. Currently, it’s Eleider Alvarez. If Stevenson wins that fight, he likely won’t defend against his mandatory again until 2018 at the minimum, possibly even longer. Beterbiev can’t afford to wait two to three years to get a title shot against Stevenson if the WBC isn’t going to force him to fight his mandatory challengers on a yearly basis.
Beterbiev has only been a pro for three years now since turning professional in 2013. It’s impressive that he’s on the verge of fighting for a world title with so little experience at the pro level. But with all the amateur experience that Beterbiev accumulated in Russia, he doesn’t need to fight 20+ times as a pro before getting a title shot. Beterbiev has already fought better fighters in the amateur system than he would if he fought a lot of professionals.
Beterbiev’s promoter Yvon Michel said this to tvasports.ca about his fighter facing the Ward vs. Kovalev winner in 2017:
“We are looking at all our options,” said Michel. “If Ward and Kovalev are fighting against each other, the winner will have to deliver a mandatory defense for the IBF title in September.”
Beterbiev could prove to be a tougher fight for Ward than Kovalev. At this point in the 32-year-old Ward’s career, he doesn’t move around the ring like he used to back when he was an active fighter from 2011 and earlier. The many years of Ward being a part time fighter and being inactive for two years seems to have hurt his ability to move around the ring.
No matter how active Ward is now, he’s not likely going to be able to become the mobile fighter he once was. This means that Ward would need to stand and fight Beterbiev. We already saw in Ward’s last fight against Kovalev that his outside game is limited to just jabbing. Ward doesn’t have much power to speak of. He was never a puncher at 168, and he seems to have even less power now that he’s moved up to 175. Beterbiev would force Ward to fight on the inside by getting the better of him when he was on the outside. Ward is not going to be able to dominate Beterbiev on the inside by wrestling, holding and smothering his offense in the same way that he did Kovalev. That’s not going to work, because Beterbiev is too strong and is far too good on the inside. Ward’s boxing skills would not come into play in this fight, because the fight would take place on the inside, and I think Beterbiev might knock him out quickly with his superior inside game. Beterbiev is one of the rare fighters in boxing that can punch with devastating power in close by pumping jackhammer shots with either hand while being held. There aren’t too many fighters in the sport that can generate the kind of power that Beterbiev can on the inside. He’s very special with that ability.
Besides being ranked high by the IBF, Beterbiev is also ranked #2 WBC, #3 WBA, and #3 WBO.
“I do not listen to what is said about a possible duel for a title,” said Beterbiev to tvasports.ca. “I am completely focused on the next fight. I never see beyond my next fight.”
Beterbiev was out of action for a year with a shoulder injury from June 2015 to June 2016. Beterbiev came back and looked great in defeating Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna by a 4th round TKO in June of this year. Beterbiev knocked Maderna down four times in the fight in winning the match in the 4th round.
Prieto is going to need to show a lot more against Beterbiev than he did in his loss to Alvarez for him to have a chance of winning it. Beterbiev is heavy-handed and he’s going to be looking to KO Prieto as fast as possible. Prieto likes to slug it out, and that’s going to make the fight potentially even easier for Beterbiev.