This morning, Groupe Yvon Michel and Interbox, two promoters once considered to be the “Cold War” manifestation of Canadian boxing, continued their coalition as partners, and brought more big time boxing to Canadian soil as Artur Beterbiev-Tavoris Cloud was said to have been finalized for 9/27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
They shipped out this big announcement via press release. To put this fight into perspective, two-time World Amateur Champion Artur Beterbiev is cutting through the Deontay Wilder intersection and squeaking onto Vasyl Lomachenko avenue. For those failing to understand my unmistakably clever boxing lingo, it’s like this fella had a .400 batting average in minor league baseball, but now he’s getting ready to play in his first MLB game for the New York Yankees. This guy is good, but we haven’t seen much of him on the big stage.
Well, now he’s facing off with a fighter ranked # 8 according to the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board’s tally, Tavoris Cloud, a man who also generated stratospheric amounts of hype, which dissipated like candlelight in the wind once he was thoroughly outpointed by Bernard Hopkins and Gabriel Campillo, and, to add insult to injury, was forced to retire under the accumulated punishment of Adonis Stevenson. His confidence isn’t soaring like it was just three years ago when HBO was putting him on the red carpet against an infirm level of opposition.
Still, he shines in comparison to the rest of Beterbiev’s five opponents — only one of which has a winning record, and none of them have lasted the distance against the Russian-born boxer. Still, with a glistening amateur background, including wins over successful pros Ismayl Sillakh, Thabiso Mchunu, and Michael Hunter Jr, and two world amateur championships paired alongside two representations of his Russian homeland in 2008 and 2012 at the Olympic games, he’s not ready decelerate just yet.
At 29 years old, he is most likely at the peak of his physical prowess, and has no time to tip-toe up the rankings of the title organizations. Fortunately for him, he’s also peaked in terms of technique. The ability to dictate the pace of the fight is key against Tavoris Cloud, and most of these dangerous 175lbers, he’s equipped with a hard check right hook, and a pickaxe of a jab which he’s noticeably utilized from the opening seconds in almost every one of his fights.
Beterbiev also has profound concentration, that is what allows him to dictate the pace and buys him the time to fundamentally dismantle his opponents. No profane imagery of brutalizing his opponents, no malignance, just the mental envisionment of destroying them, and an arsenal capable of stopping anyone who makes a mistake in the ring, and that could be the key to his success, and the continued influx of new Light Heavyweights, as the old are detracted, and, eventually, defeated by these hungry newcomers.
If boxers can be characterized with the congenital, instinctive mindset of beast, then Artur Beterbiev might just be one himself. Getting past Tavoris Cloud will be his first step as he marches up the teeming Light Heavyweight food chain. If he can do it, some well-deserved attention will be coming in his direction.
Artur Beterbiev faces Tavoris Cloud in a twelve-round NABA championship fight on September 27th at “Red Dawn”. The undercard showcases a melange of the local talent pool, including the likes of Dierry Jean, Antonin Decarie, Kevin Bizier, and prospects Yves Ulysse Jr, Erik Bazinyan, and Steven Butler.
