Two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi has confidently predicted how a fantasy fight between a prime Roy Jones Jr and the current unified light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev would play out.
Beterbiev has taken the world of professional boxing by storm in recent years, winning a world title in just his twelfth fight and defending it on eight occasions whilst maintaining his perfect 100% knockout record across twenty fights.
However, on ProBox TV, Malignaggi claimed that Beterbiev was ‘tailor-made’ for the 1990’s Fighter of the Decade, who holds the record for most wins in unified title bout wins in the 175lb division (12).
“People might think that I might be crazy on this one because I look at Beterbiev and he is such a powerful guy, such a strong guy, flat-footed but really strong and technically sound, but I think that Roy beats him easily. I think that he is tailor-made for him, he comes forward and he is technically sound but he is way too slow.
“Roy is going to beat him to the punch, change the distance, his power is going to get respect and he is going to keep hitting him with shots. It’s easy to hit him with shots that he is not going to see because Beterbiev gives you one look, he is very good technically but he gives you one look, Roy would take advantage of that all night long.
“Just having power is not really going to do anything because Roy is going to have power, he is going to have speed and he is going to offset you in every way. Beterbiev has just the power, he’s got technical ability but it is just not enough.”
For Beterbiev to truly stamp his authority on the light-heavyweight division and become a boxing legend, many feel that he must defeat Dmitry Bivol to become the undisputed champion, and it seems that fight could finally take place in June.