Artur Beterbiev: Putting the Boxing World on Notice
By Lou Eisen
Once again, boxing promoter Yvon Michel’s unerring, keen eye for talent has unearthed another exciting diamond in the rough in Chechen light-heavyweight banger Artur Beterbiev. Beterbiev hails from Khasavyurt, Russia and sports a pro record of seven wins with no losses. All of his wins have come by the spectacular knockout route. To put it bluntly, this kid can really bang and has a world title in his future. Make no mistake about it, he really is that good.
Michel’s Montreal based boxing promotional group, Groupe Yvon Michel has developed many world champions over the past two decades such as current WBC light-heavyweight world champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson, former WBC light-heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal and former WBA junior middleweight champion, Joachim Alcine. Michel also has middleweight slugger extraordinaire David Lemieux on his all-star roster as well. Lemieux will no doubt win a world middleweight title within the next 12 months if everything goes according to plan, which it should.
In fact, Lemieux, because of his terrifying two-fisted attack, as evidenced by the vicious beat down he issued to Gabriel Rosado in New York recently, is largely viewed as one of the very few middleweights in the world today who stands a good chance against Russian power-puncher Gennady Golovkin.
Michel has one of the sharpest minds in the sport today, when it comes to finding, nurturing, developing and promoting boxing talent. He has been at this a long time and he was also the architect of the Canadian Olympic teams that produced such boxing luminaries as Lennox Lewis, Egerton Marcus, Troy Ross and Bermane Stiverne. Michel leaves very little to chance when it comes to producing exciting and popular world champions.
The proof is in the pudding as Michel has turned the province of Quebec into a world- boxing powerhouse as well as a safe haven for fighters from Canada and around the world to develop their burgeoning fistic talents. Michel, along with trainer and matchmaker Marc Ramsay has proven to be a consistently winning combination. The boxing shows Michel stages in La Belle Province are stacked with prodigious talent and are amongst the finest and most exciting boxing shows in the world today. HBO, Showtime and ESPN are constantly in Quebec broadcasting Michel’s high quality cards around the world to eager viewers.
It is precisely due to Michel’s ongoing success and ability to spot talent, that there is a lot of buzz going on no about Beterbiev, the 30 year-old Chechen slugger, who stands one half inch over 5’11” and has a reach of 73 inches. Beterbiev has a strong boxing pedigree having been brought up through the ultra successful Russian boxing system. He was a two-time Olympian and in 2009 he won the World Amateur Boxing Championships in the light-heavweight division. Beterbiev also won gold at the European boxing championships in 2006 and 2010 in the light-heavyweight class.
Beterbiev now makes his home in Montreal, where he trains under the auspices of promoter Michel and the aforementioned trainer Marc Ramsay. Michel and Ramsay knew almost instantly that they had something special in Beterbiev, the first time they saw him in action. Beterbiev is the kind of fighter that even creates excitement in the gym when he is sparring. Beterbiev has heavy hands, which means he can hurt you with either fist and he does impressive damage with every punch he lands. In fact, Beterbiev is so strong that he manages to hurt his opponents even when his shots do not land flush.
Beterbiev also mixes his shots up well, abusing both the body and head of his opponents with equal enthusiasm and punching prowess. Almost as impressive as his raw power is his balance and leverage. Beterbiev’s balance helps to enhance his power while at the same time allowing him to diffuse his opponent’s punches very well by absorbing them through his legs. The leverage Beterbiev gets on his power shots is incredible, helping him do almost lethal damage to his ring rivals.
Beterbiev’s coming out party was against former IBF light-heavyweight world champion Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud last Sept. 27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal before a sold out crowd. Beterbiev annihilated Cloud in two short rounds with referee Michael Griffin mercifully stopping the fight 38 seconds into the second round, saving the thoroughly trounced Cloud from further brutal punishment. In so doing, Beterbiev annexed the NABA light-heavyweight title. In his very next fight, against American Jeff Page Jr, at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Beterbiev scored another spectacular second round knockout victory, dropping page three times in the process, capturing the vacant WBO NABO light-heavyweight title along with the vacant IBF North American light-heavyweight title.
Beterbiev is scheduled to return to the ring again in Quebec City on April 4, against an opponent to be announced, on the undercard of WBC light-heavyweight world champion Stevenson’s title defense against Sakio Bika. One thing is certain. If you are attending the fight in person or watching it at home on TV, you better take your seat early, just as Beterbiev’s first seven ring foes have done when they fought him.
