By Elliot Worsell
WHILE it would be a stretch to call light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev a jovial guy, or even a man with a sense of humor, there’s no denying that he has fun, both in the ring hitting and when someone asks him to. his opinion.
When, for example, he called himself “slow” as a result of something Anthony Yarde said before fighting him, he did so with a twinkle in his eye and his tongue in his cheek. Similarly, when, after a brutal seventh-round knockout of Callum Smith, he called himself “lucky,” there was a sense that he was playing to his audience, referring both to the ease with which he wins fights in these days (now 20 in a row, all due to arrest, and the conversations and accusations that I had been hearing during the week of the fight.
In fact, if Beterbiev wasn’t being dragged into a failed history of performance-enhancing drugs, he was having to hear about Smith, his opponent, who was not only younger than him, but bigger, stronger and deadlier with only one push. . Although he is of course mature enough to deal with this, there was still a sense in his performance against Smith, as well as in his post-fight interview, that Beterbiev had been upset this week about something or someone. If in the end all this motivated you to prove a point and be even more ruthless than usual, consider it an effective ploy; Consider it a warning to future opponents as well.
Because there’s no doubt that Beterbiev was eager to wrap things up quickly in Quebec City last night (January 13). Typically a slow start, there was little sign of this against Smith, with Beterbiev coming off the blocks quickly and eager to get to work and put a dent in the challenger, perhaps to deter him and rob him of any ambition he had going into the game. . More likely, he would have seen Smith cower under the pressure and expectation of a big fight before, namely against Canelo Alvarez in 2022, and would have tried to put him on the defensive and make him question himself from the start. If so, it was also a good tactic, as Beterbiev immediately made Smith retreat and therefore do nothing with his height and longer arms. Soon, in fact, Smith was fighting on a small scale (never a good thing against an attacker like Beterbiev) and was struggling to generate leverage for his shots, whether they were delivered from close range or mid-range.
There, at mid-range, it was all Beterbiev, his punches shorter, sharper, and seemingly heavier. His jab, highlighted, was a constant threat to Smith and time and time again he would penetrate with surprising speed when he least expected it, while his combinations, although basic in execution, were wonderfully effective throughout.
Smith often loaded up his own counterattacks, particularly the left hook, but they didn’t seem to have any real impact on Beterbiev. At times, too, it seemed as if Beterbiev’s arms were made of metal, which meant that every shot was hard even when the throw seemed effortless, while Smith’s arms, in contrast, were hollow, any power reduced. significantly because of the desperation to make them count. .
Artur Beterbiev hits Callum Smith with a jab (Getty Images)
You could argue that was the key difference here. Furthermore, Beterbiev now has the feeling that his composure and aura in the ring are as much of a problem for his opponents as what he lands. To share a ring with him, after all, is to become the next knockout victim and there is always a growing inevitability in Beterbiev’s fights these days, which surely only adds to the suffocation an opponent experiences. With Smith, for example, an already small ring soon became even smaller by virtue of both Beterbiev’s ability to cut it and Smith’s own fears and anxieties.
Without any success, Smith found it difficult to find light, much less room to breathe. In fact, only an excellent uppercut in the fourth round, plus occasional left hooks to the body, could be considered successes as far as Smith was concerned. The rest was all Beterbiev. The jabs, the right hands, the non-stop combination of punches.
By the fourth, Smith was red around the face, with swelling above both eyes, and was also developing the unwanted habit of spending too much time on the ropes. There, of course, he often found Beterbiev strengthened by the sight, stretching out his arms, one after the other, determined to catch the Briton with something, knowing that even something, such is its power and his strength, would wear him down. He was right too. There was always a shot, whether left or right, that would stagger Smith during a combination, or simply make him think twice about returning fire, and it was at that moment that Beterbiev, instead of standing still and admiring your work, do more wildly; increasing both pace and urgency.
Beterbiev also has an unusual striking rhythm, which most opponents struggle to understand when in the heat of battle with him. No fan of the simple one-two, the Russian will sacrifice the big final shot, in which someone like Callum Smith is now a master, to focus on the cumulative effect of his punches. This means that while some opponents will believe that charging in and hoping to get lucky with a Hail Mary shot is the way to beat Beterbiev, Beterbiev himself still believes that the last thing a fighter wants to experience is a heavy-handed bully who never ceases.
That’s something Beterbiev, now 20-0 (20), does better than anyone in boxing today. In fact, he will rarely stop for three or four hits, knowing that stopping at that point is the expectation; knowing that the fifth, sixth and seventh are the most likely, given the element of surprise, to cause irreparable damage.
This Smith, 29-2 (21), found out the hard way in Canada. He could feel him growing, no doubt, just as he could feel the ring shrinking, but still he had no answer for Beterbiev when the punches never stopped coming in the seventh round. By then it was inevitable, that was the round in which Beterbiev smelled blood and the round in which he stood his ground would be Smith’s last. Sure enough, he punched Liverpool until his legs gave out and then continued punching until he was on the canvas for the first time in his career.
The fighting, in truth, could have stopped then. However, it was a credit to Smith that he beat the count and prepared for more – which achieved, of course, Beterbiev now never more sure of how and when this fight would end.
Fortunately, an intervention in a corner saved Smith from further punishment after a second knockdown and now, with the fight stopped, both fighters could be seen on their knees; Smith was exhausted, gutted and perhaps relieved that it was all over, while Beterbiev was equally relieved but also nourished and well fed. After all, that’s not only how the 38-year-old wins fights, but also how he prefers to see his opponents at the end of them: defeated, broken and ultimately sympathetic. He will joke that it’s “luck” because humor and violence make a marriage uncomfortable, but anyone who shares the ring with Beterbiev will know that “luck” has nothing to do with it. The truth, equally uncomfortable, is this: it is something else.
Artur Beterbiev and Bob Arum (via Top Rank)
