Artur Beterbiev kept hold of his WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles, but was nearly forced to surrender it, as he overcame a horror cut to stop Marcus Browne in the ninth round of their battle at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada on Friday night.
Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) came into his contest with Browne unbeaten in 16, with none of his opponents hearing the final bell.
Browne (24-2, 16 KOs) began well in the first couple of rounds, using his movement to stay out of trouble, but he obviously used energy to do this.
The fight’s overwhelming talking point came in round four, when a nasty clash of heads left both fighters damage, Browne with a cut on his eye, while the champion came out worse with an awful, deep wound that was leaking from the centre of his forehead.
The Russian was informed by the referee at the start of the fifth that he may only be afforded one more round before the fight was stopped due to the nature of the cut, and this sprang the him into life.
ICYMI: @ABeterbiev battled through a deep cut last night to maintain his perfect KO streak 💯👑 pic.twitter.com/Lxtaznegpy
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 18, 2021
Once Beterbiev, 36, turned up the heat, Browne wilted and after narrowly avoiding the canvas in the final exchanges of the sixth, the American hit the deck in round seven, with a body shot and right hand doing the damage.
It looked a case of when and not if Beterbiev would make another knockout defence of his belts, and it duly came in the ninth.
Artur Beterbiev is a beast in the ring. I pity the next guy to step in the ring with him.
— Bob Arum (@BobArum) December 18, 2021
A left uppercut sent Browne to the canvas for a second time, and this time, he was unable to beat the count, handing a bloodied Beterbiev the win.
The blood only made him hungrier 😳
A close-up look at @ABeterbiev’s insane battle wound 🩸
(📷 via @YvonMichelGYM) pic.twitter.com/4863VB5dAV
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 18, 2021
Remaining Undercard
On the undercard, the vacant IBF super welterweight title was picked up by home fighter, Marie-Eve Dicaire (18-1, 1 KO), who bounced back from defeat to Claressa Shields, as she stopped Cynthia Lozano (9-1, 7 KOs) in seven rounds, securing the first knockout of her career.
Former Gennady Golovkin victim, Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs) returned to action here, and the super middleweight knocked out Christopher Booker (16-9, 6 KOs) in the ninth of their scheduled ten rounder.
At cruiserweight, Yan Pellerin (13-1, 5 KOs) claimed the vacant WBO NABO strap, winning all ten rounds on all three cards against Francisco Rivas (15-3, 5 KOs).
Movladdin Biyarslanov (9-0, 7 KOs) notched a first round win against Alan Ayala (9-3, 5 KOs) at super lightweight, while Brandon Moore (11-0, 7 KOs) did the same in his heavyweight encounter with Abraham Pascual (14-9, 12 KOs).
There was another first round stoppage at welterweight, where Batyrzhan Jukembayev (19-1, 15 KOs) halted Juan Jose Martinez (28-11, 20 KOs). Mazlum Akdeniz (15-0, 8 KOs) scored a fourth round stoppage against Arturo Bustamante (9-5, 5 KOs) at super lightweight.
