On the night of February 23, the Absolute World Warm World Champion Arthur Beterbiev will protect his belts in a battle with Dmitry Bivol. In 2013, this was difficult to imagine, but in every duel at the dawn of the BTR career, he proved that there were no authorities in the ring for him. Even if in front of him is an opponent with a criminal past.

Extraordinary rival

Beterbiev’s professional career was rapidly starting in Canada. In the six months of 2013, the Russian boxer spent three fights. The beginning turned out to be just wonderful. In the eyes of the Montreal public, Arthur easily and naturally unfolded in the second round with American Christian Cruise.

The second battle did not postpone for a long time. Two months later, the name of the new rival was announced. They became another representative of the United States Reiko Sopers (23-20-2).

The American debuted in professional ring in 2002, but did not achieve significant success. But his extra -row biography looks simply incredible. At the age of 15, an unknown was attacked on a boxer and stuck a knife in his back. Six years later, Senders was injured in the chest during a shootout.

Reiko Senders / Photo: © Al Bello / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The boxer also admitted that he shot people and sold prohibited substances. He even served four years in prison on charges of attacking police officers. In 2010, the 230-page book of Senders “Blessed and Cursed. My first 35 years. “

From the sports achievements of Saunders, only his iron chin can be distinguished. Before Beterbiev, only one boxer defeated Reiko ahead of schedule, and it was ten years before the fight with the Russian. However, they decided to conceal this information from Arthur.

– Preparing me for this duel, the coach heated me that the opponent was very serious and never lost ahead of schedule. This was the main motivation to win, ”Beterbiev recalled before the battle.

Two champions – real and cinema

The Montreal public warmly met a Russian who fell in love with the audience due to a spectacular boxing manner. The rivals spent the first minute of the starting round carefully, preferring not to take risks. Beterbiev began to apply heavy strikes only in the second half of the segment. The opponent did not mark anything special.

In the second three -minute, Reiko tried to go forward, but, having received a rebuff, he again began to act with the second number. True, this did not help him, already in the first minute he ended up in a light knockdown. Immediately, it was not possible to finish the opponent, but the American missed a few more heavy blows.

The third round also began with a knockdown, and very funny. When Senders fell, a protective belt lifted, because of which the shorts began to constantly subside. The American tried to tighten them during rare pauses, but this did not last long.

At the end of the round, Beterbiev sent Reiko to a heavy knockdown with two rigid blows. Falling, the American did not control his legs and landed on one of them. He struggled to get up and immediately realized that he could not continue the battle due to the injury. The boxer could not even leave the ring on his own. After the battle, Senders was diagnosed with a fracture, as well as damage to the ligaments of the knee and ankle.

After this victory, Beterbiev continued his way to the championship title and does not know defeats to this day. Senders practically did not win, but, surprisingly, he also became a full -fledged champion, however, only one battle and only in the cinema. In 2015, the commercially successful film “Leo” was released, where Reiko played the episodic role of Kalil Turai. There, his character won the belt, destroying the character of Jake Gyllenhaal.