‘I’m more focused on belts’ – Artur Beterbiev dismisses Canelo Alvarez fight after Mexican’s loss to Dmitry Bivol
ARTUR BETERBIEV says he is not interested in fighting Canelo Alvarez, because he doesn’t have any belts he wants.
Canelo is the current undisputed super-middleweight champ but no longer holds a light-heavyweight belt.
Artur Beterbiev says he is not interested in fighting Canelo Alvarez as the Mexican no longer has a light heavyweight beltRichard Pelham / The Sun
The Mexican beat Sergey Kovalev in 2019 to win the WBO light-heavyweight title, but then vacated the belt to move back to super-middleweight.
And Canelo would last year fail to pick up the WBA light heavyweight belt after being beaten in a unanimous decision by Dmitri Bivol.
And Beterbiev said of the prospect of fighting Canelo: “I really wanted to fight Canelo when he was the champion in the division.
“That time I really wanted to fight him because he had another belt in my division.
“It’s more motivation for me to get the belt than the Canelo name.
“I’m more focused for the titles and belts than on the big-name fighters just because they have a name.”
In 2021, Canelo’s promoted Bob Arum said he would be interested in the challenge of fighting Beterbiev, who has knocked out every fighter he’s ever faced.
Arum commented: “Canelo is a risk-taker and that makes him so popular.
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“It would be a massive fight because the betting action would go both ways.
“Some will way Beterbiev is too big and powerful. Others will say Canelo is special and can handle everybody.
“It is one of the biggest fights in boxing.”
However, this weekend Beterbiev will be focused on Wembley Arena and a huge fight with Anthony Yarde.
And the Russian says he can’t wait to fight in front of a British crowd.
He commented: “I am very happy that I will a fight before the English public.
“England is known as the place where bare-knuckle boxing resurfaced more than 500 years ago.
“I hope I will gain more fans in England after this fight. So I am very happy I will fight in the birthplace of modern-day boxing.”
GettyCanelo would love the challenge of fighting Beterbiev, his promoter claims[/caption]
