The Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada is the setting for world championship action this Friday night, as the hard-hitting Artur Beterbiev defends his WBC and IBF light heavyweight gold against Marcus Browne in the main event.
Beterbiev vs Browne will be aired on ESPN+ in the USA and on Sky Sports in the UK.
Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs) is yet to go the distance as a professional, and, within his first eight contests, he scored knockout wins over former world champions, Tavoris Cloud and Gabriel Campillo.
The Russian became IBF champion in November 2017, taking the vacant belt with a last round knockout of Enrico Koelling when well ahead on the cards, the closest he has been to hearing the final bell.
Beterbiev had to get off the deck in his first defence to knock out Callum Johnson in four, and after another defence, he unified by adding the WBC crown with a come from behind win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Behind on two cards, the 36-year-old found his knockout power to drop Gvozdyk three times in the tenth to force a stoppage.
He was last out in March, dominating Adam Deines in a tenth round stoppage win.
New Jersey-based Browne (24-1, 16 KOs) will definitely need some punch resistance against the champion, but the 31-year-old has found the canvas in three of his 25 fights.
His best win came in January 2019, when he upset Badou Jack on the scorecards, and that earned a crack at Jean Pascal seven months later.
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Browne was decked twice, and a cut eye in the eighth forced a technical decision, losing by a single point on all three cards.
He has only been out once since, taking all ten rounds against Denis Grachev in April.
Prediction: I’m not sure Browne will have enough in his locker to keep Beterbiev at bay here, and although he may begin well, Beterbiev can take over in the later rounds, and score a stoppage win by the championship rounds.
Dicaire looks to bounce back
Marie Eve Dicaire (17-1) lost to Claressa Shields in March in a bid for the undisputed super welterweight title, and the Canadian gets a chance to contest the vacant IBF belt on this bill against Mexico’s Cynthia Lozano (9-0, 7 KOs).
Dicaire has mixed in by far the better class, while Lozano has yet to fight outside of her homeland.
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Prediction: The smart bet is for the home fighter to take the title on the scorecards.
Rolls returns
Steve Rolls (20-1, 11 KOs) is best known for a June 2019 knockout defeat to Gennady Golovkin, and he makes a return after nearly two years away with a super middleweight eight rounder against Christopher Brooker (16-8, 6 KOs).
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Prediction: Brooker has lost early four times in eight defeats, the last against Andre Dirrell, and Rolls can win early here too.
Remaining Undercard
At cruiserweight, 41-year-old Quebec native Yan Pellerin (12-1, 5 KOs) meets Francisco Rivas (15-2, 5 KOs) for the vacant WBO NABO strap.
Prediction: Both men have never been past eight rounds, but Pellerin can get the job done on the cards.
Another Russian-born talent is Movladdin Biyarslanov (8-0, 6 KOs) and the super lightweight can win inside schedule against Alan Ayala Crisosto (9-2, 5 KOs) in their scheduled eight rounder.
Another early win should be expected for Florida heavyweight Brandon Moore (10-0, 6 KOs) and he can halt Abraham Pascual (14-8, 12 KOs) before the end of their eight rounder. The final eight round attraction comes at super lightweight, where Mazlum Akdeniz (14-0, 7 KOs) can stop Arturo Bustamante (9-4, 5 KOs).
The sole six rounder is another super lightweight affair, and Batyrzhan Jukembayev (18-1, 14 KOs) should have an early night against Juan Jose Martinez (28-10, 20 KOs). There is one four round bout, with Eric Basran making his debut, and it should be a points win against Ariel Gonzalez Vazquez (1-1-2).
