Reigning British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Callum Johnson will challenge Artur Beterbiev for his IBF world title, it was announced yesterday.
According to promoter Eddie Hearn, the fight will take place on October 6th at a presently undetermined location in the United States.
Boston-born Johnson captured Commonwealth gold for Scotland as an amateur and currently boasts an unblemished professional record of 17 wins and 12 knockouts, following his sensational victory over seasoned campaigner Frank Buglioni in March.
In an impressively heavy-handed display, the Lincolnshire native obliterated Buglioni – someone who was looking to win the Lonsdale belt outright with his third consecutive defence against an undefeated challenger – inside the opening round, unifying the British and Commonwealth titles in the process.
Nevertheless, the fearsome Beterbiev represents an entirely different challenge altogether.
Similarly undefeated with a record of 12 knockout wins, the Chechen destroyer possesses immense physical strength coupled with sickening punching power; alongside a fundamentally sound, upright approach that presumably enabled him to twice prevail over Sergey Kovalev while they both represented Russia in the amateur ranks.
As a professional, Beterbiev’s ascent to world championship glory has been as rapid and as clinical as the nature of most of his knockout wins; having claimed the IBF title – vacated by Andre Ward – last year with a twelfth-round stoppage over Enrico Koelling of Germany.
It remains to be seen, therefore, whether Johnson’s respected Mancunian trainer Joe Gallagher will be able to devise a strategy that will enable Johnson to overcome the odds for a second successive time.
Article by: Navi Singh
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