By Jeff Aranow: Unbeaten light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev will not be battling it out on July 29th with Enrico Koelling in an IBF light heavyweight title eliminaotr. The two fighters were supposed to face each other to see which of the two would be IBF champion Andre Ward’s mandatory challenger for that belt.
That’s not to say that the winner of the Beterbiev-Koelling would actually get a fight against Ward, as he’s expected to move up in weight to cruiserweight or heavyweight to look for bigger mountains to climb. Beterbiev vs. Koelling was supposed to be taking place on the Adien Broner vs. Mikey Garcia card on 7/29 on Showtime Championship Boxing. It would have been a great addition to the card.
The reason for the Beterbiev-Koelling fight being cancelled it real issue. There are two conflicting stories for why the fight isn’t coming off. Beterbiev’s promoter Yvon Michel says the Russian fighter couldn’t get a visa to enter into the U.S. Michel said this to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com:
“The fight was placed on the July 29 event in New York, but Beterbiev’s visa entry for USA was denied,” Michel said to ESPN.com. “We have requested revision, and it was still denied. We then decided to contact the IBF and cancelled the fight. Most likely the IBF will reschedule the purse bid.”
There is a chance that the International Boxing Federation will schedule a purse bid for the Beterbiev vs. Koelling fight, but that does not mean that the fight will take place. The hard hitting 32-year-old Beterbiev is saying that his promotional contract with his promoter Yvon Michel has already run out and he’s looking to end the contract through the legal process.
Beterbiev says that he hasn’t been paid the minimum purses and been given the bouts to keep him busy. Michel still sees Beterbiev under contract with his promotional company. It’s possible that until this is cleared up, Beterbiev might not be fighting. We’ll have to see. Michel can reschedule the purse bid for the Beterbiev-Koelling fight. It remains to be seen whether Beterbiev will actually take that fight.
Beterbiev was out of the ring for a year due to a shoulder injury that sidelined. There was a one-year period that went by following Beterbiev’s win over Alexander Johnson in June 2015 until he finally returned to the ring against Ezequuel Osvaldo Maderna in June 2016. Since then, Beterbiev has fought only once in beating Isidro Ranoni Prieto on December 23, 2016. Beterbiev hasn’t fought at all in 2017, and half the year has gone by. If Beterbiev doesn’t fight soon, he could wind up missing even more action.
The promotional problem Beterbiev has with Michel is coming at a bad time for him. Beterbiev is 32, and he already got off to a late start in the pro ranks due to his long amateur career in Russia. Beterbiev twice fought in the Olympics for Russia. When you look at Beterbiev’s late start as a pro, and shoulder injury that kept him out of the ring for a year, he’s missing valuable time. Beterbiev needs to be fighting. You’d hate to see Beterbiev not fighting again until he’s 33. His birthday is January.
As an amateur, Beterbiev beat Sergey Kovalev. In 2008, Beterbiev lost a controversial decision to Zhang Xiaoping in the Olympics. Four years later, Beterbiev was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk by a questionable 17-13 decision in the 2012 Olympics. Having seen that fight, Beterbiev appeared to win the fight. He landed a lot of shots that the judges didn’t score. Amateur boxing is frustrating to watch at times. Beterbiev was the one forcing the issue the entire fight, and landing the harder shots on Usyk. The judges still saw Usyk as the winner.
As a pro, Beterbiev has beaten former world champions Tavoris Cloud and Gabriel Campillo.