Artur Beterbiev made a successful return to his homeland with a tenth round knockout of Adam Deines at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia to secure his 16th knockout win from as many fights on Saturday.
Beterbiev, 36, was last seen in 2019, in a thrilling stoppage win against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and he successfully defended his WBC and IBF Light Heavyweight titles with victory over Deines in his first professional fight back in his come country.
Deines made a bright start, while the champion took a measured approach in the first, but a counter right hand that landed high on the challenger’s head floored him in the dying seconds of the opening frame.
The German survived the count, and was showing plenty of heart and ambition in throwing his shots in rounds two and three, but the champion was regularly trapping his opponent on the ropes, and also using his jab to good effect.
The fourth saw Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs) up his work rate, and Deines (19-2, 10 KOs) was visibly starting to wilt under the intense pressure, but to his credit continued to throw his punches, although he was being walked down and cornered on several occasions.
The 30-year-old made it past halfway, but was becoming a more stationary target, and it was only going to be a matter of time before the Russian caught up with him.
That moment came in the tenth when a hard left hook dropped Deines for a second time, and his corner already had the towel ready as the fight was waved off.
Victory for Beterbiev sets up a potential unification with the winner of Joe Smith Jr and Maxim Vlasov’s rescheduled vacant WBO title clash on April 10, whilst an all-Russian showdown with WBA ‘Super’ champion, Dmitry Bivol could also be possible, with the 30-year-old facing Craig Richards on May 1 in the UK.
The chief support came at Super Middleweight, where Pavel Silyagin took Azizbek Abdugoforov’s WBC Silver title with a dominant points win.
Silyagin (7-0, 4 KOs) was in full control of the contest, and this was reflected in the scorecards, with two scores of 119-109 and a third at 120-108 sealing the win for the home fighter, who remains unbeaten, while the Abdugoforov (13-1, 5 KOs) was defeated for the first time.
👑 HIGHLIGHTS ⤵️@ABeterbiev‘s power was on display yet again as he delivered in front of a home crowd in Russia. #BeterbievDeines pic.twitter.com/ammGQJdLc3
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) March 20, 2021
Alexander Besputin returned to action with a second round stoppage of Viktor Plotnikov (33-11, 15 KOs) at Welterweight.
Besputin (14-0, 10 KOs) was last seen winning the WBA world title against Radzhab Butaev in November 2019, a fight which was later ruled a no contest, after he tested positive for a banned subatance and he was subsequently stripped of that belt.
View this post on Instagram
Ramzan Baysarov stopped late substitute Michel Marcano (21-3-1, 18 KOs) in five rounds of their Super Welterweight clash.
Baysarov (12-1, 7 KOs) was due to face Silverio Ortiz in a rematch of the Russian’s only defeat, but the Mexican pulled out at late notice.
