On Saturday, October 12, in Saudi Arabia, Russian boxers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will meet in the ring to determine the absolute light heavyweight world champion. Both never lost to anyone as professionals, and BTR also won ahead of schedule in every fight.

Once Arthur knocked out a star opponent in the second round.

“I’m preparing for any plot”

39-year-old Artur Beterbiev had 20 fights in the professional ring. All 20 ended in victories for the Russian, and early ones at that. Alexander Gvozdyk in the fight with Arthur lasted until the 10th round, Anthony Yarde only until the eighth, Callum Smith until the seventh, and the once star Tavoris Cloud, who held the IBF championship belt for four years, did not survive two rounds. The Russian simply crushed him in the ring.

By the end of September 2014, 29-year-old Beterbiev managed to fight five professional fights. It is curious that none of Arthur’s opponents lingered in the ring – he had only 11 rounds for half a dozen fights. The next opponent did not look like an outright “bag”, having 24 wins and two defeats before the fight in Montreal. Yes, the 32-year-old ex-IBF champion suffered two defeats in a row, but here we must give credit to his opponents. First, the American lost the belt to the legendary Bernard Hopkins, a former absolute world champion. And then he failed to deprive the strong Canadian Adonis Stevenson of the WBC belt in the title fight.

Arthur understood perfectly well that this time everything could be much more difficult and honestly spoke about his excitement before the fight with Thunder.

“I take the upcoming fight as a challenge and I want to prove to the fans that I can box at a high level. I didn’t have this opportunity before, because, again, my opponents were too easy. I’m preparing for any scenario in the development of the fight with Cloud, the Russian was quoted by RingTV.

Put on my knee

The plot turned out to be not too complicated and, perhaps, Cloud looked much more formidable only before the start of the battle. While the legendary promoter Don King was in the ring with the boxer, the American looked arrogantly at his opponent. And then, with everyone but the referee behind the ropes, things didn’t go so well for the Thunder.

Beterbiev decided to carry out reconnaissance immediately with powerful jabs and already in the first attack made Cloud struggle to maintain his balance. The opponent snapped and even demonstrated something similar to dangerous counterattacks, but they did not pose a real threat to Arthur. In the last minute of the round, the Russian pinned his counterpart in the corner of the ring and, after a series of blows, put him on his knee.

Tavoris Cloud / Photo: © Elsa / Golden Boy / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

After the first knockdown, Cloud quickly recovered, but a few seconds later he collapsed again. He got up a second time only to be knocked down for the third time just before the bell. It would have been possible to end everything at this moment, but neither the American team nor the referee decided to deprive the eminent athlete of hope. At the beginning of the second round, the American boxer, after another attack, fell face down and never got up. The judge formally counted to 10, after which he was forced to declare Beterbiev the winner, who acquired his first title in professional boxing, becoming the WBA-NABA champion.