Artur Beterbiev: “I wake up in the morning and look for the title of Bivol”

The owner of three champion titles in the light heavyweight division (up to 79.4 kg), the representative of Canada Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) gave
interview for the British TV channel BT.

On January 28, the champion is scheduled to fight in London, at the Wembley Arena, against Briton Anthony Yarde (23-2, 22 KOs). In a conversation, Artur answered a question about the venue of the fight, joked about his luck in battles, spoke about his sense of humor, commented on the possibility of winning the fourth title, which belongs to Russian Dmitry Bivol, and spoke about the episode in the duel of views.

– On January 28 you have a duel against Anthony Yarde at Wembley. But what does London mean to you? You fought here at the 2012 Olympics.

— I am very happy to fight here, but I do not focus on any cities. London, New York, Grozny, Moscow – I don’t focus on cities, I focus more on my opponent.

– You are an incredibly spectacular fighter, 18 knockouts! You say you’re lucky. It’s more than luck, isn’t it?

– 99% is luck and 1% I prepared to be lucky.

– What does knockouts mean for you in your record? Is it important to get a knockout?

— No, I never think of knockouts. I only think about being a good boxer, fighting well, showing good boxing.

Do you enjoy entertaining the fans because the boxing world knows you as a destroyer? You obviously have a solid knockout record, but they know you are a spectacular fighter. Is this what you are proud of?

Boxing is my job. If some people like the way I work, I am doubly pleased, I am doubly glad.

What type of person are you because we only see boxers and knockouts and the destruction you leave in the ring. But it seems that you are a person who likes to joke. At the press conference, you had a lot of jokes for the press, and everyone liked them. Would you call yourself a person with humor?

— I didn’t even start joking because my English is not that good.

– He’s pretty good.

Pretty good, but not the way I want. But I like to joke. I don’t want to be like this [показывает угрюмого боксёра]. In the ring, yes. I don’t want to talk in the ring, I don’t want to shake hands with my opponent, I don’t want anything. But outside the ring you have to be a good person. Being human.

• “When I beat Beterbiev…” Anthony Yarde on the upcoming fight

“Let’s talk about lions, Anthony Yarde. What do you know about your opponent other than the fact that he looks like a bodybuilder?

— Yes, he looks good. For my part, I’m trying to be 100% ready for this fight because there are three belts at stake. And you have to be 100% prepared for it.

– How much is the fourth belt important to you? How close will it be to you in the future?

– It is very important. When I wake up in the morning, I’m looking for something and I can’t find it. And then I realize that I haven’t won it yet [улыбается].

You train in Montreal with Mark Ramsay, don’t you?

– We have a good relationship. He is a very humble, simple person. This is probably why from 2013 to the present day we have a good relationship. Because I like humble people.

Anthony Yarde is a very loud man. He stood right there with you in a duel of views after the press conference. You hit the table. What for?

– If I had hit him, he would have been injured and there would have been no fight. This is not good. And I chose the option – to hit the table. It’s less costly. Maybe the table is broken, but a table is a table, it is not an opponent.