Artur Beterbiev's career back on track with Top Rank

The bungled career of hard-hitting Russian light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev is beginning to straighten out.

The Montreal-based fighter was embroiled in a legal dispute for more than two years against his former promoter, Yvon Michel of GYM, who signed Beterbiev in 2013.

They agreed to part ways in March. Soon after, promoter Top Rank picked up his rights and scheduled him in a bout against Radivoje Kalajdzic in May. Beterbiev battered Kalajdzic inside five rounds.

And now, on October 18 in Philadelphia, Beterbiev will square off against the equally hard-hitting Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the rare title unification match.

John Scully, Beterbiev’s co-trainer (with head trainer Marc Ramsay), is a biased observer, but he believes his man has a few advantages going into what many see as a 50-50 proposition.

“One thing is that we have a certain amount of mental advantage,” Scully told Boxing Junkie. “They fought as amateurs and Artur stopped him – TKO – broke his nose. Damaged him pretty good, even though it’s amateurs, it’s in (Gvozdyk’s) mind. He knows.”

Scully also said he sensed “an unusual amount of respect for Artur” in recent interviews that Gvozdyk has conducted, “and I think that plays to our advantage.”

Of course, there is no talking about Beterbiev, 34, without mentioning his punching power. He has knocked out all of his 14 opponents. That said, he has faced no one so far on the level of Gvozdyk, a champion who has proven his worth in the ring. Gvozdyk went to Montreal and wrested a piece of the light heavyweight crown from longtime champion Adonis Stevenson last year, scoring an 11th round technical knockout. (Stevenson suffered a brain bleed after the fight and underwent coma-inducing surgery. He has since emerged from the coma and left the hospital, appearing in good spirits in an interview with a Montreal TV station.)

Asked to measure Beterbiev’s power, Scully said, “I’ll tell you what, I don’t go by anything other than the people who’ve been punched by him. I talked with the guys that boxed with Artur and every single one of them is impressed with his power. ‘It’s unusual. It’s different than other people.’ I go by that.”

Scully also points to a moment early on in Beterbiev’s career that convinced him that his power was the real article.

“(Beterbiev’s handler) was telling me that they’re getting ready to fight Tavoris Cloud, and Artur only has five or six fights. I was like, ‘Wow, you guys think you’re ready for somebody as tough as Cloud? He told me, ‘Scully, don’t worry. You’ve got to see his power, and it will make up for any differential.’

“They always say power is the greatest equalizer (in this sport), and it’s true. If Artur can do one thing on this earth, he can punch.”

At the same time, Scully believes the fight against Gvozdyk will play out far more tactically than people might expect. Gvozdyk is heavy-handed but also light on his feet and can maneuver around the ring with ease, something that can’t be said of Beterbiev.

“It’s definitely an issue (for us). (Gvozdyk) uses his legs really well,” Scully said but quickly added that Beterbiev is not your average one-dimensional power puncher.

“Artur is known as a puncher and brawler, but from what I see, you don’t have that many fights as an amateur if you don’t have technical skills,” Scully said. “It’s just that with Artur, sooner or later the power is going to come into effect. If Gvozdyk can’t really keep Artur honest, he’s going to run into problems.”