SPECIAL COLLABORATION
They say that a man always finds his shoe. That one day it will be his turn. He will find his man. But… do you know anyone on the planet who could beat Artur Beterbiev right now?
Nope…
Neither do I.
Take a look at the best light heavyweights in the world and you’ll find that only age will eventually get the better of him.
Like everyone else, our three-time champion is getting older. He will be 38 on January 21.
But don’t tell Joe Smith Jr. that Beterbiev is getting old. He will never believe you. And he still bears the marks of his last confrontation with the one to whom he ceded his title of monarch. The speed of execution was exemplary.
Moreover, Smith is currently in reflection. Will he keep boxing or will he instead rush to his shovel and rake, join his father and keep pruning trees in the New York area?
Smith is a nice gentleman. A guy from the “gang” as we say in Quebec. He is not the best boxer on earth, but he is a strong man, who learned his trade as a boxer on the job.
But every time he faced an upper class boxer, he lowered his flag. This was the case against Sullivan Barrera, Dmitrii Bivol and Beterbiev. In short, his great feat of arms is to have ended the career of Bernard Hopkins, in 2016.
Some will say that his victory by K.-O. technique in the first round over Andrzej Fonfara, in Chicago, in 2016 where he won the WBC international light heavyweight title will have been one of the highlights of his career. Maybe they are right. After all, Smith was largely overlooked by bettors prior to facing him.
Who today can aspire to overcome Beterbiev?
First name on the list: Bivol, the other champion, that of the WBA.
There’s also Mexican darling Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who has already said he’d like to go up against Beterbiev, but allow me to doubt that.
The name of the Mexican Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs) often comes up on the carpet. He certainly has a natural talent. He could possibly make our champion look bad. He’s 6’2”, but his defense is porous and eventually he’d get caught by a solid shot from Beterbiev and the trick would be played.
Bivol has been sailing on cloud nine since his victory over Alvarez. He wants to face Beterbiev and our champion would like to accommodate him. But his promoter Bob Arum would rather bring him to London, England, where he could fight Anthony Yarde in front of more than 90,000 people.
The idea is not bad, but I doubt that Yarde will do better than Smith or the other victims of our three-time champion.
Yarde is good. Spread the word. Moreover, according to BoxRec, Britain has 7 of the top 25 light heavyweights in the world. That’s 5 more than the Americans. Moreover, the two best Americans, Smith and Marcus Browne have already been victims of Beterbiev and the third, Richard Rivera (21-0, 16 KOs) has never beaten anyone.
If you wonder why the English have so many hopefuls, tell yourself that on Saturday, only the Americans will present more boxing galas than the British on their territory. always according to BoxRec, there will be eight galas presented on Saturday at Uncle Sam’s while Great Britain will hold six. It’s the number of young boxers that matters. The more there are, the more chances you have of finding a rare pearl.
The secret is there. But who could beat Beterbiev in Britain’s top seven?
The best Brits in the division (According to BoxRec)
4th – Callum Smith (28-1, 20 KOs) From Liverpool. He lost his only career fight by decision against Alvarez.
9th – Joshua Buatsi (16-0, 13 KOs) From London. He is 6’2” tall. He is undefeated and he just defeated Craig Richard by decision last May. A possibility.
10th – Anthony Yarde (22-2, 21 KOs) The next elected.
15th – Craig Richards (17-3-1, 10 KOs) From London. He suffered three losses, including decisions against Buatsi and Bivol.
17th – Rocky Fielding (30-2, 18 KOs) From Liverpool. He has already lowered the flag to Alvarez and Smith.
19th – Lyndon Arthur. (19-1, 13 KOs) Of Manchester. Last December, he lost by K.-O in the 4th round against Yarde. It’s his only loss.
24th – Dan Azeez (16-0, 11 KOs) From London. He is undefeated, but he has never faced very high quality boxers.
32nd – Callum Johnson (20-1, 14 KOs) Of Lincolnshire. Beterbiev has already beaten him by K.-O in the 4th round in Chicago, in 2018.
Do you have suggestions…
Hurry… hurry… hurry from June 26th
Joe Joyce (13-0, 12 KOs) is one of the best boxers in the world. He is already ranked in three major associations. He is the number one contender for the WBO. 2nd WBC and 6th IBF. He is 36 years old and after a year of waiting, he returns to competition on July 2, at Wembley, against veteran Christian Hammer (27-9, 17 K.-O.). History to get back in shape.
It will be September 10
According to Dan Rafael, it is on September 10, in London that the fight between Savanah Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) and Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) will take place.
Marshall is the only one to have defeated Shields in her career and that was at the World Championships in China in 2012.
Already we are certain that the two pugilists will fight in front of a full house.
In the dark
Do you remember the boxing judge Adalaide Byrd, the one who had given the victory to Alvarez (118-110) in Las Vegas during the first confrontation against Gennadiy Golovkin? While the other judge opted for Golovkin and the third had a 114-114 draw. In the end, we had a null verdict. I don’t know if she’s on penance by the Nevada Regie, but she hasn’t officiated in a 10 or 12 bout match since Sept. 19, 2020, when she rendered her decision in Efe Ajagba’s win. Instead, she has worked in four-, six-, and eight-game matches since then.
As for her husband, referee Robert Byrd, we have not seen him in a ring since June 5, 2021.
On the way
The 2020 Olympic Games gold medalist, Cuban Andy Cruz Gomez is said to have fled his country and is now in the Dominican Republic waiting for his papers to go into exile in the United States.
Gomez is an out-of-the-ordinary lightweight. He is 27 years old and, in addition to his Olympic gold medal, he has twice won gold at the Pan Ams and three times he has been crowned amateur champion. This does not count all the honors he won in his native country.
Sugar Ray on screen
The incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson (174-19-6, 109 KOs) will live on screen again. It is the British actor David Oyelowo who will personify him in the film “Sweet Thunger”, whose real name Walker Smith, Sugar Ray died at the age of 67, poor and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Yet during his active career, he pocketed over $4 million, which is worth around $30 million today.
It took ten years to prepare this film, the shooting of which has already begun. I can’t wait to see what they will tell us about the career of this extraordinary athlete. I know he got married when he was 16 and he loved the company of pretty women.
seventeen years apart
On June 25, 1988, the late Mario Cusson lost the last game of his career, at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, to Edouardo Valdez.
Seventeen years later, on June 25, 2005, it was Arturo Gatti who passed the K.-O. in the 6th round by Floyd Mayweather Jr., on the Boardwalk, Atlantic City.
Strong man… wants to box!
Tom Stolman, the 6’8” British giant, crowned the strongest man on the planet wants to get into boxing and he challenged the ex-juggernaut Hafthor Bjornsson and why not also, Brian Shaw.
not welcome
US Immigration officials in London have denied champ Tyson Fury the right to board a plane bound for the United States because of his ties to Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan.
Fury claims Kinahan is a longtime friend. Nothing more.
