Russian destroyer and major light heavyweight prospect Artur Beterbiev will go for his first world title Saturday night on Top Rank on ESPN when he meets Enrico Koelling for the IBF title. This was one of the belt’s Andre Ward vacated upon his retirement. A really well matched bout between emerging contenders Jose Ramirez and Mike Reed will also be on the card.
The original main event of this card was supposed to be Jessie Magdaleno’s defense against Cesar Juarez, but when that was scrapped the show was still plenty strong enough to stand on the legs of its quality undercard. Curiously, I am still not sure which of the other two fights will become the main event. Initial reports suggested Ramirez versus Reed would be elevated as Ramirez is the big local draw anyway, but the commercials that ESPN have been airing exclusively promote the Beterbiev/Koelling contest.
Contest is probably too generous of a word for what Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) versus Enrico Koelling (23-1, 6 KOs) will end up being. Beterbiev is a destroyer and one of the best prospects in the sport, though he is already 32 years old. His career has been derailed over the past few years thanks to a dispute with his Montreal based promoter Yvon Mitchell and accordingly Beterbiev has been largely absent from competition. His deal with Mitchell reportedly ends with this fight, however. Given that Top Rank elected to bid for and win the purse bid for this vacant title fight, it stands to reason that Beterbiev will probably sign with them after.
Germany’s Koelling is a Euro-level fighter through and through. He is the the kind of fighter that is good enough to maybe pick up the European belt with the right matchup, but world level against a true elite talent like Beterbiev is basically guaranteed to be too much to ask. He won’t have the power to keep the Russian honest or the footwork to keep him away. I strongly suspect Artur Beterbiev will still have a perfect knockout percentage come Sunday morning.
The junior welterweight battle between Jose Ramirez (20-0, 15 KOs) and Mike Reed (23-0, 12 KOs) is really well matched in contrast to the (co?) main event. Ramirez fought for Team USA at the 2012 games in London. He won his first fight before bowing out against Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, a man who four years later took home gold in Rio. As a professional, Ramirez has been rising slowly in that typical Top Rank way. One thing the 25 year old has definitely developed is a local following and he will be selling most of the tickets for the show.
24 year old “Yes Indeed” Mike Reed, owner of the best, worst nickname in boxing, has had a similar career track without the super high level amateur success. He is still very much a talented fighter, however. At his best he can be slick and athletic, specializing in slipping and ripping. Last time out he tried to be aggressive, but it isn’t his nature and he didn’t look great. I expect him to try to outbox Ramirez as the former Olympian attacks.
Matching two of their unbeaten guys at this juncture of their careers is very uncharacteristic of Top Rank. It does feel like they expect Ramirez to win. I slightly favor him too, if for no more reason than he is all but guaranteed to get a close decision at home because boxing. This is a pretty even fight on paper though. The winner will graduate from prospect to a real contender.
The show will be broadcast at 10:30 PM Eastern on ESPN. Preliminary bouts begin at 7:30 PM Eastern, meaning they might be show the entire live card. Unbeaten 23 year old junior welterweight prospect Alex Saucedo will highlight that portion of the event alongside former major welterweight prospect Amir Imam in separate belts.
