Sean Monaghan, Sergey Kovalev (has to beat Ward a 2nd time) and Erik Skoglund have all declined to fight Beterbiev. Enrico Koelling is the next on the list. He has until Friday to take a decision. If Koelling refuses it will be up to Sullivan Barrera. Nobody wants to get mauled by the Chechen bear. Google Translate:
Risk / reward thing, alas. He's high risk and low reward. Shouldn't have knocked so many people out Beterbiev's only career option at this point is to cram his schedule and get declared mandatory for the various belts. Win the belts, and then they HAVE to fight him. I'd really like to see more of him before he gets old.
Looks like Beterbiev and Golovkin will have to move back to Russia with Povetkin to get fights. Nobody wants to fight them but everyone wants to fight America's favorite Russian, Kovalev. Go figure!
To add to that, Mikhalkin has turned down the fight and is seeking it with some random. Beterbiev's situation just makes me sad. He's probably not going to be fighting anyone legit until 2018. I really hope Sullivan Barrera takes the fight. Massive respect if he does.
Yes, Beterbiev is certainly finding it difficult to get fights. I wouldn't be surprised if Barrera takes the fight though, think he's a warrior.
Be honest. Beterbiev is like a mummy, except a mummy talks better and his promoter Yvon Michel has done a poor job promoting him. Didn't Beterbiev duck on fighting Kovalev and the fight was to be in Russia? Michel actually confessed they ducked the IBF purse bid because of the 75/25 split and they thought they deserved more.
Enrico Koelling would be an Idiot if he signs the contract he won't survive 2 rounds. Beterbiev should fight someone with a bigger name anyway. Why not Pascal, Barrera or Joe Smith Jr ?
You think a Chechen would have gotten a fair shake in Russia against Russia's premier international fighter?
He won't be fighting Barrera. Barrera vs Beterbiev was supposed to happen in late 2015 but Barrera can't come to Canada and Beterbiev's team doesn't want the fight anywhere else. I doubt it'll be different this time around.
