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Ten years after knocking out Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the amateur ranks, hard-hitting Artur Beterbiev proved once again he was the better man and -- more importantly -- the best light heavyweight in the world. Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) broke open a competitive chess match by scoring a trio of knockdowns in Round 10 to finish Gvozdyk (17-1, 14 KOs) via TKO to unify WBC and IBF 175-pound titles at the LIacouras Center in Philadelphia. The native of Russia, who fights out of Montreal, also captured the lineal title Gvozdyk won last December from Adonis Stevenson. The first light heavyweight unification bout in boxing history between unbeaten fighters proved to be a skillful affair as both boxers made technical adjustments to regain momentum. The rounds were largely close, as was the punch stats with Beterbiev outlanding his Ukranian opponent 161 to 118, according to CompuBox. Ultimately, the difference came down to punching power as the 34-year-old Beterbiev appeared to visually hurt Gvozdyk routinely when he landed flush throughout, including multiple times to the body. Beterbiev was also trailing on two of the three scorecards (87-84, 86-85, 83-87) at the time of the stoppage. “For this moment, it's my most important fight,“ Beterbiev said. “I had big work to prepare for this fight. Maybe this fight would be my last fight but I'm happy for the end so thank you to everybody.“ Gvozdyk, 32, fought with heart as the slicker boxer, using pinpoint combinations to stay close to Beterbiev and even appearing to hurt him with a counter right in Round 6. But the toll of body shots and short hooks upstairs finally caught up with Gvozdyk late. A huge Round 9 from Beterbiev had Gvozdyk looking weary as he returned to his corner. Trainer Teddy Atlas implored him to dig deep by yelling, “Tell your body to come back to you!“ But Round 10 would be the end for Gvozdyk. A pair of right hands from Beterbiev scored early knockdowns, which drew a stern warning from referee Gary Rosato that the fight would be stopped soon. One more barrage of punches forced Gvozdyk to take a knee as Rosato instantly waved off the fight at 2:49. “Before I win this second title, I was not motivated, but I will work very hard in training for motivation now,“ said Beterbiev who maintained his hopes of further unifying 175-pound titles. Although he said he prefers titles to calling out names, it's clear that his focus was on WBA champion Dmitry Bicol and WBO titleholder Sergey Kovalev.
