A couple of weeks on from a minor controversy about an ‘atypical’ finding in one of Artur Beterbiev’s pre-fight drug tests, his coach has now responded to comments from Tony Bellew.
This first big fight of the year took place on Montreal and saw Beterbiev defending his IBF, WBC and WBO titles against Brit Callum Smith.
As has every single one of his fights to date, the contest ended with a knockout win for Beterbiev who now looks ahead to an undisputed battle with Dimitri Bivol in the summer out in Saudi Arabia.
However, in the wake of the test results and the win for Beterbiev, Bellew questioned how a man of 39 years old like Beterbiev can be getting stronger and called him “a beast and a fighter who is getting stronger as he gets older which is hard to believe but he is!” The former world champion finished by saying “our sport needs looking at.”
Bellew later said there were “a lot of coincidences” when asked about Beterbiev’s atypical drug test before the fight, claiming that a competitor of his age should have low levels of testosterone rather than what was found to be the case.
Beterbiev’s coach John Scully has now responded via Boxing King Media.
“Nonsense. He’s not getting more destructive. He’s the same destructive he’s always been.
“This is nothing new. Sometimes when people see other people doing things they couldn’t do they have to see a reason for it other than a guy’s just that good, that strong, that focused.
“If I can’t do something I can’t slander someone who can to make them look bad and make myself feel better.”
He then compared Beterbiev to Bernard Hopkins who remained at the top of his game until almost 50 years of age.
“Instead of accusing someone, they should say hey maybe we should follow the examples of Artur and Bernard Hopkins, because Hopkins did it 10 years before Artur did it.
“People just can’t believe he can remain that strong and that focused and keep that mentality until this late in their career.”