{"id":1403,"date":"2023-01-16T12:04:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T13:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:03:03","slug":"champion-boxer-on-collision-course-with-russian-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/16\/champion-boxer-on-collision-course-with-russian-rival\/","title":{"rendered":"Champion boxer on collision course with Russian rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artur Beterbiev wants to face fellow unbeaten Russian Dmitry Bivol<\/strong><\/p>\n

18-0 Russian Artur Beterbiev has his hands full later this month when the takes on the tough Briton Anthony Yarde, but after that he says he wants to focus his efforts on finally making a fight with compatriot Dmitry Bivol a reality.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Beterbiev has established himself as one of boxing\u2019s foremost power-punchers throughout his career, winning each of his fights by knockout en route to capturing IBF, WBC and WBO titles at 175lbs.<\/p>\n

In Yarde, he takes on another fearsome knockout artist but, provided he emerges unscathed from this latest test, Beterbiev has pulled no punches in announcing what he wants as his next challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have both signed a contract to fight. He is trying to hit me as hard as he can and I am doing the same. There are no feelings<\/em>,\u201d said Beterbiev of Yarde, whom he fights at London’s Wembley Arena on January 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the fight I just hope he is OK. Do I enjoy knocking people out? No. There\u2019s no pleasure in it. I just hope everything is OK with them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to do good boxing, not hit people<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when it comes to Bivol, Beterbiev, the recent conqueror of the legendary Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez, admits that this is a challenge he has really been chasing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need Bivol<\/em>,\u201d he said of the 21-0 Russian star. \u201cI\u2019d prefer to fight Bivol because he has the one thing I need.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I fight him in 2023 but the hold-up is not from my side, it\u2019s from their side. In the last three years he always says he will fight me next but in this time we\u2019ve done unification fights against Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Joe Smith. We\u2019ve done that, whereas he has just been talking about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to be on the national team together as amateurs, I knew him then, but he is younger than me. We haven\u2019t talked for ten years now. He was 75kg (165lbs) back then, too small for me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were never friends<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Beterbiev also insists that, while Bivol is the ultimate goal, his immediate focus is fixed upon the challenge awaiting him in the ring in London later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat motivates me is that first of all I have three belts and I need to defend them \u2013 I can\u2019t just give them away<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone wants these belts they need to fight. I\u2019ll try to be 100% ready and we will fight them to see who is better. What motivates me right now is having these belts and needing to defend them \u2013 that\u2019s it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another win, and particularly another devastating knockout against an opponent of Anthony Yarde\u2019s caliber, will certainly serve to enhance Beterbiev\u2019s already glowing reputation.<\/p>\n

But one suspects that until he steps into a ring with Dmitry Bivol, he won’t be truly satisfied with his collection of belts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artur Beterbiev wants to face fellow unbeaten Russian Dmitry Bivol 18-0 Russian Artur Beterbiev has his hands full later this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1404,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1403\/revisions\/1404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinemalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}