Artur Beterbiev vs Callum Johnson Preview Oct. 6th
Unbeaten IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia meets undefeated Callum Johnson of England at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago this Saturday, October 6th. The 12-round bout can be seen in North America on DAZN. Beterbiev won the vacant title his last time out with a 12th-round stoppage of Enrico Koelling last November. Johnson’s last outing was a first-round stoppage of Frank Buglioni in March. Beterbiev now fights out of Montreal, Canada.
Beterbiev vs Johnson Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Callum Johnson +600
- Artur Beterbiev -900
My Pick
The 33-year-old Beterbiev is a former world amateur champion and Olympian who turned pro in 2013 and has boxed just 43 rounds since. The reason for this is because he’s knocked out all of his opponents while compiling a perfect record of 12-0 with 12 Kos. This of course means his knockout ratio currently stands at 100 per cent, but he’s disappointed many fans and critics by shying away from the big guns of the light heavyweight division. His biggest wins so far have been knockouts over former world champions Gabriel Campillo in 2015 and Tavoris Cloud a year earlier.
He’s not really taking a step forward this weekend either by taking on Johnson. Size-wise, Beterbiev isn’t the biggest light heavyweight around as he’s just under 6-feet tall with a reach of 73.5 inches. He obviously has fine boxing skills that were utilized during his amateur career, but since turning pro he hasn’t really had the chance to use them. He’s been on a seek and destroy mission over the past few years and has been very successful at it. And to help matters out, he also appears to have a pretty solid chin.
Beterbiev has been on the canvas before though as Jeff Page Jr. dropped him in the first round with a right hand back in December of 2014. However he got up from the canvas and stopped Page the next round after decking him twice. The knock against Beterbiev is that he doesn’t use his jab enough, lacks hand speed and doesn’t move his head either, which makes him a bit of a sitting duck. But he hasn’t paid for it yet due to his tremendous power.
As for Johnson, he hails from Boston, Lincolnshire and is 33 years old. He doesn’t really have many rounds under his belt either as he’s gone only 54 rounds since turning pro back in 2010. Before that he had a fine amateur career and won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Since turning pro he’s won the Commonwealth Boxing Council, and the British Light Heavyweight Titles. However, like Beterbiev for the most part, he hasn’t really faced anybody the average boxing fan has heard of and 12 of his 17 opponents have had losing records.
Therefore, you may want to take Johnson’s perfect mark of 17-0 along with 12 Ko’s with a grain of salt. He appears to have power though with a current knockout ratio of 71 per cent and also has a solid chin to go with it. He’s six-feet-tall, but unfortunately there’s no information on Johnson’s reach, so he gives up about two inches in height to the champion. Johnson has been brought along slowly as a pro and he’s already 33, but he can become a world champion here even though it’s hard to understand how he earned a title shot.
Prediction…
Beterbiev has somewhat limited skills for a former Olympian, but makes up for it in power. He hasn’t been facing the cream of the crop in the 175 lb division and neither has Johnson, so this is fight has gone under the radar. That’s not to say it won’t be exciting though. Both guys have heavy fists, but I’m expecting Beterbiev to retain his title when all is said and done.
Beterbiev’s power should be the difference.
Play: Beterbiev -900 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Artur Beterbiev betting • Callum Johnson betting