Russia’s Beterbiev defends titles with brutal win in London (VIDEO) – RT Sport News
Artur Beterbiev maintained his perfect record after a bruising contest against Anthony Yarde
Undefeated Russian fighter Artur Beterbiev retained his WBO, WBC and IBF world light heavyweight titles with a stoppage victory over local hero Anthony Yarde in a back-and-forth at Wembley Arena on Saturday night.
Beterbiev, 38, set up the finish in round eight with a huge shot from the right that knocked Yarde to his knees. The British fighter beat the count, but Beterbiev immediately put the pressure on again, prompting Yarde’s corner to call off the fight and spare their man further punishment.
Yarde, 31, had posed a bigger threat to the conquering Beterbiev than many expected. Fighting in front of a fiercely partisan crowd, the Londoner enjoyed particular success in a thrilling fifth round before Beterbiev dug into his entire ring us to prevail in the fight.
Beterbiev, who also holds Canadian citizenship and trains in Montreal, said he was happy with his night job against Yarde despite the competition being tighter than many expected.
“I can’t say that I had a bad fight, but if I start again, I want to do better. But I feel good, Beterbiev told BT Sport. “Antoine did [punch hard]. He’s young. He has time I think, and I hope he does well in the future.
“If I’m being honest, every shot he made, for all these shots we prepared, that’s why I came back and came back, because we knew, we expected those shots,” added the Dagestan-born fighter.
Coming to the eighth round extended Beterbiev’s remarkable 100% save rate against each of the 19 opponents he has faced in professional boxing. The victory will also increase the clamor for an undisputed all-Russian light-heavyweight title fight against WBA champion Dmitry Bivol.
Bivol, 32, has an unbeaten record of 21-0 and handed Mexican great Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez a rare loss in their title fight in Las Vegas in May last year. Bivol followed that up with a dominant decision victory over Mexican Gilberto Ramirez in Abu Dhabi in November.
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