One title defense is scratched and another joins DAZN’s big show.
The jokes almost write themselves. 33 year old light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev (13-0, 13 KOs) remains undefeated and has his WBO belt, but his career has largely been viewed a disappointment anyway since its super promising start for one very specific reason. Inactivity. The talented Russian former amateur star has spent the last few years largely out of the ring as he battled to get out of his contract with Montreal outfit GYM Promotions headed by Yvon Michel. In the last three years to date, Beterbiev has only fought four fights.
When Artur signed a co-promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing to be a major part of their American expansion, the arrangement was celebrated as the end of that problem. The titleholder made the first defense of his belt under their banners and an exciting three round slugfest with Callum Johnson last month and was set for a quick turn around against Joe Smith Jr for December 15th. It is not to be, however. The champion has formally withdrawn from his defense. Why? His coach has convinced him that there is not enough preparation time for the potentially tough defense. Usually they have a year if not more in between fights, so I guess that makes sense in their weird world. It is unclear if the fight will still take place early next year.
As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. With the major December 15th DAZN show needing another title fight, gifted junior lightweight belt holder Tevin Farmer (27-4-1, 6 KOs) has gotten his wish to defend on the show granted. He will be challenged for his IBF title by Costa Rican contender Francisco Fonseca (22-1-1, 12 KOs). This is a low key fight, but a pretty interesting one for the world class athlete and highly underrated titleholder in Farmer.
In the summer of 2017, Fonseca was brought in to be an easy defense for divisional elite Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Tank showed up overweight, however, and found himself in a very competitive fight with the unheralded challenger. It was still an even contest in the eighth when Fonseca fell victim to a very dubious decision. He was clearly clipped with an illegal blow to the back of the head, but the referee ruled it a legal finish to the fight. Is Fonseca actually a top fighter or did he get an especially unfocused Gervonta Davis that night? We’ll have our answer on December 15th. He hasn’t otherwise been tested at world level.
Is Farmer-Fonseca as good as Beterbiev-Smith could have been? No. It is still a good undercard bout though to be paired with David Lemieux v Tureano Johnson in the build up to Canelo’s super middleweight experiment against Rocky Fielding though. Other rumored fights for the show involve Ryan Garcia, Katie Taylor, and Yves Ulysse Jr, but none of those have been confirmed with opponents yet. We are about a month out now, however, so confirmations should start coming in fast any day now.
