Artur Asilbekovich Beterbiev (born 21 January 1985) is a Russian and Canadian professional boxer. He held the undisputed light-heavyweight championship between 2024 and 2025. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring magazine titles during his reign as champion.
Beterbiev is the first boxer to become the undisputed light-heavyweight champion since Roy Jones Jr. last held that distinction in 2002, and is the first to do so in the "four-belt" era.2024-10-12 (Santoliquito, Joseph). "Artur Beterbiev Outpoints Dmitry Bivol, Makes History as First Undisputed Light Heavy Champ of Four-belt Era". The Ring. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
As an amateur, Beterbiev won a light-heavyweight silver medal at the 2007 World Championships, gold at the 2008 World Cup and 2009 World Championships, as well as gold at the 2006 and 2010 European Championships. He also reached the heavyweight quarter-finals at the 2012 Olympics.
He is known for his exceptional punching power, having won his first 20 professional fights by knockout or stoppage after debuting in 2013. His perfect KO record ended when he defeated Dmitry Bivol by majority decision to become undisputed champion, whom he then lost to in an immediate rematch, also by majority decision.
Amateur career Beterbiev competed as a light-heavyweight and heavyweight in his amateur career. He won the 2006 European Amateur Boxing Championships beating Kenneth Egan and Ismail Sillakh among others. He beat Egor Mekhontsev but lost to two-time world champion Evgeny Makarenko in 2006. In 2007, in Kaliningrad, Artur Beterbiev beat Oleksandr Usyk. Also in 2007, he beat future unified light-heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the semi-finals, and eventually beat Evgeny Makarenko in finals to qualify for the World Championships. In the finals of the World Championships he faced the little-known Abbos Atoev but lost in an upset.
At the 2008 Olympics he beat Kennedy Katende 15:3, then at the round of 16 he fell controversially to local boxer Zhang Xiaoping who went on to win the gold medal. At the 2009 World Championships, he beat young Cuban Jose Larduet and Uzbek Elshod Rasulov to claim the light heavyweight title.
At the 2011 World Championships he lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winner Oleksandr Usyk by 13–17. At the 2012 Olympics he edged out Michael Hunter but lost again by 13–17 to Usyk. Both of these were in the heavyweight division.
Beterbiev had more than 300 amateur fights.Все, что нужно знать о титульном бое Артур Бетербиев — Энтони Ярд 28 января 2023 года It has been roughly estimated that he won 295 amateur bouts and lost 5 others. However, his confirmed record finds that he had at least 102 wins and no fewer than 13 losses.
Professional career Early career Beterbiev moved to Montreal to pursue a professional career. He won his professional debut via a second-round TKO over Christian Cruz at the Bell Centre on 8 July 2013. Beterbiev fought on the undercard of Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute, beating Gabriel Lecrosnier by TKO on the fourth round.
Rise up the ranks After winning his first five professional bouts, Beterbiev would face off against former IBF light-heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud for the vacant NABA title on 27 September 2014. After a tentative opening minute from both fighters, Beterbiev opened up and began landing powerful shots that visibly rocked Cloud. In the final minute, the Russian would drop his opponent three times via combinations. Before this fight, Cloud had never been dropped in his professional career. Beterbiev would close the show in round two, landing multiple hard shots to the head that knocked Cloud out, giving Beterbiev his first title.
In December 2014, Beterbiev stopped light heavyweight prospect Jeff Page Jr. in two rounds, winning the vacant IBF North American and NABO light-heavyweight titles. However, Beterbiev was dropped for the first time in a professional fight in the first round of the fight by a straight right to the head. "I felt a bit sleepy before the fight. I think I just lost my concentration for a fraction of a second," Beterbiev said of the knockdown.
Afterwards, Beterbiev would face off against another former IBF world champion, Gabriel Campillo, with his North American title at stake. Both men began cautiously until Beterbiev dropped Campillo late in the first round. The Russian slowly wore down his foe with multiple straight rights to the body. Finally in the fourth, Beterbiev would land a straight/uppercut hybrid that would hit Campillo square on the chin, and followed it up with a perfunctory left hook before walking to his corner while his opponent slid to the canvas, barely conscious. The PSI detector in his gloves stated that the first punch landed with 973 pounds per square inch.
Beterbiev improved his record to 9–0 against Alexander Johnson on 12 June 2015, at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Beterbiev knocked Johnson down twice in the fifth and a third time in the seventh before finishing him at 1:38 of the round, clobbering him with a left hook and finishing him off with an overhand right that put Johnson through the ropes down and out. With the win, Beterbiev added the vacant WBO International light-heavyweight title to his other four minor titles.
In June 2016, Beterbiev defeated Ezequiel Maderna by round 4 TKO, dropping him four times along the way. Beterbiev's eleventh professional win came against Isidro Prieto, whom he knocked out after a flurry of punches at the end of the first round. Beterbiev had several title eliminators and world title shots fall through, including bouts against Sullivan Barrera, Igor Mikhalkin, and Sergey Kovalev. He also faced long periods of inactivity in a promotional dispute against Yvon Michel.
IBF light heavyweight champion Beterbiev vs. Kölling In July 2017, Beterbiev had yet another world title eliminator fall through. He was scheduled to face Enrico Kölling, with the winner becoming the IBF's mandatory challenger to unified world champion Andre Ward, but the fight was never finalized amidst Beterbiev's contract dispute. A purse bid was later won by Top Rank, with the American promotion planning to broadcast the fight on ESPN, as part of a show including Jessie Magdaleno. The show was later announced to be taking place on 11 November at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno. Magdaleno would later drop out with an injury.
Andre Ward officially announced his retirement on September, therefore the IBF title became vacant. The IBF later announced that the fight between Beterbiev and Kölling would be for the now-vacant world title. Beterbiev dominated Kölling in a dull fight, walking him down while Kölling refused to engage. Beterbiev finally scored a knockdown in round 12, as Kölling went down on one knee and received a count. When the fight resumed, Beterbiev dropped Kölling again and the referee waved the fight off. Beterbiev landed 322 of 1,111 punches (29 percent) while Kölling landed 64 of 252 blows (25 percent).
Beterbiev vs. Johnson In October 2018, Beterbiev fought British champion Callum Johnson in a mandatory defence of his IBF world title in Chicago. Johnson, ranked 7th in the world with the IBF at the time, was coming off a round 1 TKO of domestic rival Frank Buglioni; his first fight in nearly one-and-a-half years. Beterbiev accepted the fight on a co-promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing USA, which was aired live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK.
Beterbiev won an action-packed fight by round 4 KO, which saw both men hurt and knocked down; Johnson in round 1 by a Beterbiev right hand followed by Beterbiev in round 2 from a Johnson left hook. Both men fought aggressively but it was Beterbiev who knocked down Johnson a final time in round 4 with another right hand to the head; the British fighter failed to beat the count and Beterbiev retained his world title.
Beterbiev vs. Kalajdzic In March 2019, Beterbiev signed a long-term promotional deal with Bob Arum's Top Rank. On signing with Top Rank, following his recent promotional issues, Beterbiev said, "It’s been difficult for me, because I just want to concentrate on fighting (in the ring), not in (court). That’s all behind me now, it’s a big relief to be with Top Rank and to finally just move on with my career." Beterbiev was to have his fights broadcast on ESPN. Beterbiev's world title win was also broadcast on ESPN. They wasted little time in announcing his second defence, scheduled to take place on 4 May against 27 year old Radivoje Kalajdzic (24–1, 17 KOs). The card took place at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California. Top Rank wanted to get Beterbiev in the ring after being out of action for over 12 months. The aim was to have him defend the title before he observed Ramadan. The fight took place the day before. Kalajdzic had won 3 bouts in a row after his controversial 8-round split decision loss to Marcus Browne in April 2016. Kalajdzic headed into the fight with Beterbiev with confidence after calling his resume 'thin'. Both made weight with Beterbiev coming in at 174.4 pounds and Kalajdzic lower at 173 pounds.
In front of 10,105 fans, Beterbiev kept his 100% knockout streak intact after stopping Kalajdzic in the fifth round. The beginning of the end came towards the end of the third round, when Beterbiev dropped Kalajdzic. He stumbled backwards to his corner. In the fourth round, both came out firing shots, with both landing clean, stunning each other at times. Beterbiev was on the attack to start round 5. He cut the ring off and pinned Kalajdzic against the ropes, landing a flurry of shots to his body and head. This prompted referee Dan Stell to step in and stop the fight. The live card averaged 480,000 viewers. Including the replay, which aired hours later, the combined total was 600,000 viewers.
Unified light heavyweight champion Beterbiev vs. Gvozdyk The win over Kalajdzic would ultimately set up a unification fight against WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk 17–0, 14 KOs) for some time in Autumn 2019 on ESPN. In July it was announced that the fight would be on 18 October, at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. The winner would be ordered to make a defence against IBF mandatory challenger Meng Fanlong. They both fought each other in 2009 in Turkey in the amateurs, which saw Beterbiev come away with a second-round stoppage win. Gvozdyk admitted he was not mentally nor physically ready for that fight, as Beterbiev was an established amateur. One of the conditions of Beterbiev signing with Top Rank, was to land the unification fight. He said, "It’s a big fight, the fight that I really wanted when I signed (with Top Rank). I’m very (pleased) it’s happening." Beterbiev also knew he would be kept active. He had not fought twice in the same year since 2016. Beterbiev's power and 100% knockout ratio was also a talk before each of his fights. He told reporters the knockout was not important and the game plan is to win, whichever way that happened. His trainer Marc Ramsey also shared the same notion. Both weighed under the limit with Beterbiev at 174.5 pounds and Gvozdyk coming in at 174.3 pounds.