By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC and IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia will be taking on fellow countryman Adam Deines this Saturday, March 20 in Moscow. The 12-round bout can be seen in America on ESPN and ESPN+ on Saturday afternoon. Beterbiev stopped Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the 10th round in October, 2019 to add the WBC belt to his IBF version. Deines last fought in September, 2019 when he stopped Yevgenii Makhteienko in the second stanza.
Beterbiev won the vacant IBF title in 2017 by stopping Enrico Koelling in the 12th round and has defended it against Callum Johnson, Radivoje Kalajdzic and Gvozdyk, all by way of stoppage. The 36-year-old is a former world amateur champion and Olympian who turned pro in 2013 and has boxed just 62 rounds since. The reason for this is because he’s knocked out all of his opponents while compiling a perfect record of 15-0 with 15 Kos.
This of course means his knockout ratio currently stands at 100 per cent, but he’s disappointed many fans and critics by shying away from the big guns of the light heavyweight division until meeting Gvozdyk and he’s now taking a step backwards by taking on Deines. Beterbiev’s also beaten the likes of former world champions Gabriel Campillo in 2015 and Tavoris Cloud a year earlier.
Size-wise, Beterbiev, who fights out of Montreal, Canada, isn’t the biggest light heavyweight around as he’s just under 6-feet tall with a reach of 73.5 inches. He obviously has fine boxing skills that were utilized during his amateur career but since turning pro he hasn’t really had the chance to use them. He’s been on a seek and destroy mission over the past few years and has been very successful at it.
Beterbiev also has a pretty solid chin but he’s been on the canvas before as Jeff Page Jr. dropped him in the first round with a right hand back in December of 2014. However he got up and stopped Page the next round after decking him twice. The knock against Beterbiev is that he doesn’t use his jab enough, lacks hand speed and doesn’t move his head much either, which makes him a bit of a sitting duck. But he hasn’t paid for it yet due to his tremendous power.
Beterbiev was originally set to meet Fanlong Meng in March, 2020 but the fight was scuttled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It was rescheduled for October, 2020 but Fanlong wasn’t able to get a visa to fight in Russia so was replaced by Deines. However, a few weeks before the fight Beterbiev postponed it due to a rib injury and it was rescheduled for January, 30. Beterbiev then came down with Covid-19 and it was pushed back again t this weekend, so don’t be surprised if something halts the fight again.
The 30-year-old Deines fights out of Germany and will climb through the ropes with a mark of 19-1-1 with 10 Kos. He’s won two straight fights since losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Fanlong Meng in June 2019 for the IBF Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight Title. Deines’ lone draw came in 2016 when he battled to a six-round split affair with Karel Horejsek. Deines then beat him two months later by six-round unanimous nod in a rematch.
Deines made his pro debut in 2015 and the southpaw has boxed 117 rounds since. As a pro, he’s won the German Cruiserweight Title, the IBF Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight Crown, the German Light Heavyweight Belt and the WBC International Silver Light Heavyweight Title. Most boxing fans outside of Europe probably won’t recognize any of Deines’ opponents other than perhaps Meng, Stefan Haertel and Zoltan Sera.
At 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 71.5-inch reach, Deines is basically the same height as Beterbiev and gives up just 1.5-inches in reach. He has average power with a current knockout ratio of 47.6 per cent and seems to own a pretty good chin, which will be needed against the champ. This is a big step up in class for Deines but he’s not really the type of opponent fans want to see in the ring with Beterbiev. However, that’s certainly not Deines’ fault.
Prediction…
Beterbiev has somewhat limited skills for a former Olympian but makes up for it in power. He hasn’t really been facing the cream of the crop in the 175 lb division other than beating Gvozdyk. I’m sure Deines will give it his best shot but I’m expecting him to fall short of his goal.
