By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Artur Beterbiev of Russia will be facing Gabriel Campillo of Spain in a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight tilt this Saturday, April 4 from the Pepsi Colisee in Quebec, City Canada on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson vs Sakio Bika card. Fight fans in North America can watch the action live in the afternoon on the CBS network while UK fans can view it on Sky Sports.
The 30-year-old Beterbiev will climb through the ring ropes with a perfect mark of 7-0 with 7 Kos while the 36-year-old Campillo is a former WBA light heavyweight champion who is 25-6-1 with 12 Kos under his belt. Beterbiev obviously has power, but he’s got just seven pro fights on his resume and he hasn’t faced an elite opponent yet even though he stopped former champ Tavoris Cloud in two rounds last year. He’s a former Olympian who had a fine amateur career and he’ll be facing a current Grade B boxer in the aging Campillo.
Still, Campillo’s a good test for Beterbiev in his eighth pro outing and he was beaten by Cloud by split decision in 2012. Campillo’s chin isn’t what it once was as he was stopped twice in 2013 by Sergey Kovalev and Andrzej Fonfara. Beterbiev was offered veteran Isaac Chilemba as an opponent for this fight, but decided against it and opted to face Campillo instead.
Beterbiev’s last outing came against Jeff Page Jr in December and he was dropped in the first round by a right hand, so his chin is also questionable. However, his power isn’t as he 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 either, which makes him a bit of a sitting duck.
Campillo is on a three-fight winning streak since Fonfara stopped him, but his opponents were Thomas Williams Jr, Mirzet Bajrektarevic and Ricky Dennis Pow. He also lost two of his three previous fights before meeting Fonfara. Beterbiev stands six-feet tall with a 73-inch reach while Campillo is just over 6-foot-2 and has a wingspan of 76 inches. Beterbiev has just 15 pro rounds on his record since 2013 and Campillo has gone 211 since turning pro in 2002.
Prediction
This would have been a better matchup a few years ago when Campillo was still one of the contenders in the division. Beterbiev has limited skills for a former Olympian and still has quite a bit to learn about the pro game. However, he does have enough power in his fists to save his bacon, as he proved against Page. Campillo has good boxing skills, but sooner or later Beterbiev will likely catch up to him with some bombs and take the fight by stoppage.
