By Dan Ambrose: IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs) picked up his 16th consecutive knockout win on Saturday night with a harder than expected 10th round TKO over #5 IBF Adam Deines (19-2-1, 10 KOs) at the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia.
Beterbiev dropped the steel-chinned Deines in rounds one and ten. In the 10th, Beterbiev landed a monstrous left hook that sent the 30-year-old Deines down face-first on the canvas. After Deines got back up, his corner threw in the towel.
It’s unclear whether Beterbiev, 36, carried Deines or not, as he appeared to slow up after dropping him in the first round.
Either Beterbiev carried Deines intentionally or he may have been feeling the effects of the 17-month layoff, recent injuries, and his bout with COVID.
- In a masterful display of boxing skills, super middleweight prospect Pavel Silyagin (7-0, 4 KOs) defeated Azizbek Abdugofurov (13-1, 5 KOs) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision to capture the WBC silver 168-lb title. The judges scored 120-108, 119-109. and 119-109. Boxing News 24 had it 120-108.
- Undefeated welterweight Alexander Besputin (14-0, 10 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a third-round stoppage over journeyman Viktor Plotnikov (33-11, 15 KOs).
- Light welterweight prospect Khariton Agrba (5-0, 2 KOs) beat Helber Rojas (13-4-2, 11 KOs) by a second-round stoppage. The official time of the ending came at 2:30 of round two.
- Super middleweight Vladimir Mironchikov (3-0, 3 KOs) destroyed Elvin Akhundzada (4-6, 2 KOs) by a first-round knockout.
- Heavyweight prospect Vladimir Ivanov (4-0, 3 KOs) beat Alexander Stepanov (2-4, 1 KOs) by a first-round knockout.
- Middleweight prospect Rakhman Akhmetkhanov (1-0, 1 KOs) beat Artem Karpets (21-15, 6 KOs) by a second-round knockout. Karpet’s career has sunk into oblivion after starting out with twenty-one straight wins. It just shows you how things can go to pieces for a fighter when they step it up against better opposition.
Preivew:
Beterbiev hasn’t fought in 17 months, as he’s dealt with a mix of problems win injuries, illness, and a change of opponent.
Artur originally was supposed to be defending against IBF mandatory Meng Fanlong, but he was changed out for Deines, a fighter that lost to the 2012 Chinese Olympian in 2019.
At this point, it’s all about staying busy for Beterbiev because he can’t afford to be picky with 17 months of inactivity. Deines obviously is just a body being brought in for Beterbiev to defend against.
If boxing fans are lucky tonight, we might see an interesting match with Deines going out on his shield like a warrior after giving it a good go. That’s what we’re hoping for.
It’s a bad omen that Meng Fanlong took Deines to school, beating him a lopsided decision two years ago in the only time that the Russian fighter has fought a talented contender during his career.
One of the most exciting fighters in all of boxing, Artur Beterbiev is fighting tonight in making a voluntary defense of his IBF/WBC light heavyweight titles against Adam Deines on ESPN and ESPN+ from the Khodynka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia.
Action from the card begins at 1:00 pm ET on ESPN+. Boxing News 24 will be giving live updates below.
Beterbiev – Deines will be headlining the card in a fight that should be fun to watch while it lasts. With Beterbiev’s crushing punching power, Deines (19-1-1, 10 KOs) will have a difficult time trying to stay upright.
As one would expect, he’s the underdog, and this fight might end early if Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) puts it on him. After Beterbiev’s last knockout win against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, the two-time Russian Olympian joked, ‘Who needs judges? I don’t need them.’
The 36-year-old Beterbiev last fought two years ago, stopping previously unbeaten WBC 175lb champion Gvozdyk by a 10th round knockout on October 18, 2019, in Philadelphia.
For the first time in Beterbiev’s career, he was the underdog in the fight, as the oddsmakers felt that Gvozdyk’s boxing skills and combination punching would be too much for Beterbiev to overcome.
Indeed, Gvozdyk got the better of Beterbiev through the first nine rounds, but in the tenth, Artur dropped him three times to get the stoppage.
What paved the way for the victor by Beterbiev was the body punching he was doing from the sixth round. Once Beterbiev started targeting Gvozdyk’s midsection with his power shots, it had an immediate effect on the fight’s flow.
Gvozdyk didn’t like getting hit with the shots from Beterbiev, which were punches that seemed to go right through the Ukrainian. With the power that Beterbiev was putting on those shots, Gvozdyk couldn’t handle it.
Beterbiev is a tremendous -4000 favorite to beat the brakes off Deines, according to BetMGM.