Artur Beterbiev is fighting on the David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde undercard against Deon Nicholson (22-1, 8 KOs) on The Ring IV ‘Night of The Champions’ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Beterbiev’s Undercard Return

Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) wanted to fight Dmitry Bivol in a trilogy, but it’s not happening at this time. The selection of the Alabama native Nicholson, 34, is an underwhelming substitute option.

Nicholson has one loss on his resume, a third-round knockout against Nigerian Efetobor Apochi in April 2021. It’s impossible to know if Nicholson has improved or not because his opposition has been so poor. He’s won his last eight fights, knocking out five of them.

We don’t know why Artur and his team agreed to this guy rather than one of the talented contenders. The higher-ranked contenders would likely have expected a lot of money to fight the former undisputed light heavyweight champion, Beterbiev, 40, due to the high risk involved.

Beterbiev suffered his first career defeat earlier this year on February 22nd, losing a 12-round majority decision to Bivol in Riyadh. Although Bivol looked very good in stretches, Beterbiev dominated him early on with pressure and had him in bad trouble in the 12th. The fight should have been scored a draw, but the judges went with the Eddie Hearn-promoted Bivol.

Beterbiev’s Strange Reality

For Beterebiev, it’s got to be strange for him to be fighting on the Benavidez-Yarde undercard rather than the main event. It shows how far a fighter can slip when they suffer a loss.

It’s unknown what position the Beterbiev-Nichoslon fight will be on the card. For it to be buried down below other fights, that would be a bitter pill for Artur to swallow. Not only did he lose a controversial decision in his last fight, but now his fights are being placed near the bottom of the main card.

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