There’s no flashing sign that says “Artur Beterbiev is here,” but you don’t need Lt. Columbo’s investigative skills to know he’s in the gym.
Use your ears. Pick out that sound.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack, thwack, thwackkkk!!!
When Beterbiev, the undisputed light heavyweight champion, hits the mitts, it sounds like Shohei Ohtani in the middle of batting practice.
You know it’s him; from the sounds of things, it can’t be anyone else.
“There are a couple of videos on YouTube of me and Artur doing the mitts from the last camp, when we were in Saudi Arabia,” assistant trainer and noted boxing historian, John Scully, explains. “And if you listen to it, it sounds like a shotgun’s going off. It’s like you’re in an echo chamber and fireworks are going off. When he hits solid with the right snap, it’s just a different kind of a noise.”
On Saturday, Beterbiev will defend his undisputed title in a rematch against Dmitry Bivol at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their first fight, on Oct. 12, ended in a majority decision win for Beterbiev.
Both were born in the former Soviet Union and were products of its elite amateur system. They were teammates on the top amateur team along with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Picture those team workouts: Beterbiev, Bivol, and Usyk in the same gym. It was like Mays, Aaron, and Clemente sharpening their skills in the same outfield in the minors.
On perhaps his worst night, Beterbiev gave Bivol his first loss, not by overpowering him, but by outthinking him. He boxed.
Bivol wanted no part of a toe-to-toe battle, so he tried to play chess. He’s a grandmaster who never risks too much. He’s a cat burglar lurking in the shadows, testing windows, waiting for the moment to slip inside.
Beterbiev’s 95.2 percent knockout ratio is staggering, but it doesn’t define him. You don’t win 295 amateur fights and compete in the Olympic Games in that Russian system and then become a pound-for-pound great in the pros by being one dimensional.
That was the former WBC heavyweight champion’s undoing. Wilder is among the hardest punchers the sport has ever seen. He kayoed his first 32 opponents and 39 of his first 40.
Wilder knew his power was so devastating that he’d boast how his opponent would need to be perfect for 12 rounds to beat him, but he’d only need to be perfect for two seconds. That was just long enough for him to land a shot that short-circuited the brain and ended the fight.
Wilder, though, was at a severe disadvantage when he was forced to box. It was like a person who couldn’t swim being dumped in the middle of the ocean and told, “See you at shore.”
Beterbiev is not a water bug in the ring, but his boxing skills are elite.
“I think his image among some people who see the record and think he’s Mister T, Clubber Lang, in Rocky 3,” Scully said. “They see him as a destroyer. That’s so wrong. That assessment is so off-base. He’s a much better technical boxer than people think. He’s very, very high-level in that regard.”
Top Rank’s Carl Moretti pointed out that Joe Louis was a terrific boxer. He was known for that amazing power and his ability, apocryphal or not, to knock someone out with a punch that traveled just six inches.
His knockout trail overshadows his artistry.
“Whenever you have a big puncher, I think people just assume he’s loading up and throwing these huge shots,” Moretti said. “It’s just overlooked because people are so enamored with power and the knockout.”
No one has seen more great light heavyweights in the last 60 years than Beterbiev promoter Bob Arum, the nonagenarian who promoted his first card in 1966 when Muhammad Ali fought George Chuvalo.
The list of great light heavyweights from that era, particularly through the mid-1980s, is staggering.
Topping that list in any category is a testament to one’s greatness. Arum said Beterbiev is a better puncher than all of them, even the legendary Bob Foster.
That, though, is not why Arum is so fond of the Russian-born champion, who now holds Canadian citizenship and lives in Montreal. Beterbiev’s stern and stoic in public and won’t say two words to a reporter if a grunt or a shake of the head properly conveys his intention.
The public relations team sent quotes from the fighters to the media from Wednesday’s open workout. The extent of the quotes attributed to Beterbiev?
“It’s a little bit different,” on the feeling of this fight versus the first. The first was a “good experience to have.”
He’s not a native English speaker, but it’s not just that. Beterbiev has little time for anything that’s not helping him become a better fighter.
Arum, 93, sees a side of Beterbiev that not many experience, and it’s at odds with his frequently intimidating public countenance.
“He is a super gentle, nice, sweet and caring person,” Arum said. “Look, at this point in my life, it’s no secret. I’m old. When the fighters look at me, it’s obvious they see me as somebody who has had great experiences in boxing and has seen so much. And I get treated so amazingly by so many of them.
“It’s almost like love, you know what I mean? He is incredibly thoughtful and polite. He’s truly a lovely young man.”
Beterbiev turned 40 last month, creeping toward middle age. Time remains undefeated. But if it’s coming for Beterbiev, it better pack a lunch.
Who knows when that time is, but it didn’t seem anywhere close given the way Beterbiev fought in October.
Scully’s raved about his work throughout training camp.
“There were things that happened in that first fight I saw and I knew right away were things we needed to fix,” Scully said. “Look, Bivol is one of the best in the world, and we won on a night when Artur still had a lot of room for improvement.
“He’s physically stronger. He had that knee surgery [that postponed the first fight from June to October]. That’s no issue now. He’s doing things he couldn’t have done before. Physically, he’s so strong. We’re much stronger. It’s going to be a different fight, but we still have room to grow.”
Mark Robinson/Matchroom
Former light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.