Artur Beterbiev

Watched this kid in action this morning in a fight against the usually relatively highly rated Tavoris Cloud in only his 6th fight. I quite frankly couldn't understand what was going on. Had Cloud dropped that badly in form and level and needed to take on a fresh newbie to the sport and get a confidence builder?? Or had this Beterbiev just been a complete and utter fool.....because lets be honest....apart from Rigondeux and Lomachenko, I had no idea who this Russian fellow was until about 20 seconds into the opening bell.

The fight reminded me of Kovalev vs Cleverley.....he slipped the jab, got in range, and punched crisply to both body and head......dropping Cloud to my amazement 3 times!!

Round 2 was exactly the same only he opened up a hell of a lot more and caught him flush with an inside left uppercut come hook.....cloud down and didn't beat the count.

So It the prompted me to look into this guys record, because I had just witnessed what I though was a massive 2014 upset!!!

How wrong was I.....

The 2 x Olympian has a fantastic amateur background similar to the fighters I named above, he also has 2 wins over Krusher Kovalev......and they are moving him forward rather quickly.

Anyone else manage to catch him last night?

What are peoples thoughts?

I think Cloud is the definition of a gatekeeper now, but that was a statement. Bit of a leap he's made, so where does he go? If Kovalev sees Hoppo off, could be an interesting grudge match.

Just watched him and that was impressive. He's not particularly slick but everything he throws looks to have serious power, look forward to seeing him again.

Yeh very true King....didn't think he had turned into a gatekeeper mind...thought he was still at world level mix....but yes, some bloody statement that last night.

Would Kovalev have any interest in what would appear a 6 fight novice? Or would he want to avenge his losses in the amateurs....be a good scrap if they got it on though.

Or with pascal/Stevenson.

MM8 I said the exact same thing about the Kov Clev fight. Seems like Kov to have the power to shake his opponent even without the shots landing flush.

The guy's got great amateur pedigree, makes you wonder why he's made his pro debut so late in the game.

Think he kept going because, like a lot of Eastern European athletes, the Olympic Gold still means the world. Lost out pretty controversially in '08 to the Chinese fella. But still, it's such a leap he's made, it's astounding. His last fight was against a guy with a losing record. So to take Cloud out, and in a manner more impressive than any of the big dogs at 175 (Stevenson, Hopkins) have done it is impressive.

It is weird how all these Drago-type demolition men have just popped up from the Bloc. Maybe Rocky IV came with an alternative ending there.

There too many of them right now. They have taken over boxing and their names are hard to prenounce.

I mean Artur??? Don't they mean Arthur?

Schoolboy error I know. If these guys want my approval then they better start getting a proper grasp of the English language.

Sensational and brutal KO win by Beterbiev. Really has genuine power at World Level.

Considering Cloud has never been down, Beterbiev power is on the level of Kovalev. He will struggle to get a fight.