#冬日生活打卡季#
On January 13, 2024 local time, the current IBF, WBC, WBO light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev defeated former WBA super middleweight world champion Callum Smith in Quebec, Canada.
However, even with such a stellar record, Artur Beterbiev's performance has been questioned by some. Former WBC welterweight world champion Tony Bellou said publicly in an interview with reporters that Artur Beterbiev may have won the fight through "improper" means, otherwise he would not have been able to maintain such amazing form at this age, or even perform better than before.
In fact, Tony Belu's suspicions are also somewhat justified, because before Artur Beterbiev and Callum Smith played, Artur Beterbiev had been found to have some indicators abnormal during a drug test in mid-December last year. At the time, Callum Smith's tournament promoter, Eddie Hearn, was the first to raise doubts, but a series of subsequent inspections by the International Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency cleared Artur Betbiev and allowed him to compete.
After learning of Tony Belou's remarks, assistant coach John Scully, a core member of Artur Beterbiev's team, spoke to reporters and refuted such claims.
John Scully told reporters: "Nonsense. Artur Beterbiev did not suddenly become more destructive. In fact, he's always been destructive. This is nothing new. I don't mean to be offended, but sometimes when people see Artur Beterbiev do what others can't, they get suspicious and speculate that there are other reasons for Artur Beterbiev's success. ”
Regarding Artur Beterbiev's age, John Scully cites another talented and legendary boxing champion Bernard "The Old Demon" Hopkins as an example, as Bernard Hopkins is still able to maintain a relatively high level of form in his 50s.
John Scully told reporters: "Bernard Hopkins was almost 50 years old, 10 years older than Artur Beterbiev today, and Bernard Hopkins was as good as he used to. How do you explain this? Bernard Hopkins and Artur Beterbiev are very similar, surpassing 99% of the world's fighters in terms of maintaining their mentality, training hard, and staying focused, which is something that other fighters can learn from. ”
"Instead of questioning others, ask yourself. Perhaps they should follow the example of Artur Beterbiev and Bernard Hopkins and keep playing professionally and continue to compete at a high level. John Scully told reporters.
After defeating Callum Smith, Atur Beterbiev has been in the limelight for a while, and he will now become the undisputed first person in the light heavyweight division to unify the four major organization world titles. The good news is that a big consortium from Saudi Arabia wants to invest in a unified world boxing fight between Artur Beterbiev and the current WBA light heavyweight world champion Dmitry Bivol. If all goes well, the two will face off in this high-profile world title unification bout in Saudi Arabia this summer.