Unbeaten light-heavyweight banger Artur Beterbiev, one of the hardest punchers fighting today, will fight a couple of days before Christmas Day, when he will meet never-stopped Isidro Ranoni Prieto of Paraguay (now based in Argentina) in his adopted Quebec, Canada on December 23. In line to fight the winner of the November clash between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, the 10-0(10) Beterbiev will be having just his second fight of this year.
At age 31 time is not on Beterbiev’s side, yet the power in his fists comes from both sides; his left and his right hands being lethal. Prieto, 26-1-3(22) has never been stopped, and he can punch (at a certain level) and he has met some quality opponents. The sole loss came against Eleider Alvarez last August, while Prieto holds a decent win over Jackson Junior. Most of Prieto’s fights have taken place in Argentina and the sole other time he fought in Canada he lost, to Alvarez.
Beterbiev will enter the ring as a massive favourite and with good reason. A good deal of experts feel Beterbiev could be the best 175-pound fighter out there today, and the thought of him in with either his countryman Kovalev or Ward really does excite. A superb amateur, Beterbiev has yet to be extended beyond the 7th-round as a pro, and he has gone past the 2nd-round on just five occasions. Maybe Prieto can take Beterbiev a few rounds.
Fans will be interested to see if Beterbiev can better the 20-0 Alvarez’ performance against Prieto and stop his man. The odds say he will do so.
Of interest to UK boxing fans is the recent announcement that BoxNation will televise the Dec 23rd card live.
