Getty Light heavyweight boxing champion Artur Beterbiev.
Artur Beterbiev will put his WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles on the line on Saturday when he boxes Adam Deines at Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow.
Note: Heavy may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via a link on this page
In the United States, the fight card (1 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch Beterbiev vs Deines live on ESPN+ right here:
ESPN+ is the digital streaming service from ESPN that has coverage of most Top Rank fights, plus dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary, and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.
Or, if you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $12.99 per month, which works out to about 31 percent savings:
Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Beterbiev vs Deines live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Beterbiev vs Deines Preview
The title bout was originally slated for January, but Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) tested positive for COVID-19 in late December, prompting a postponement.
“The most frustrating thing was the first cancelled fight as it happened just 14 days before the scheduled fight,” the 36-year-old Russian said, according to The Sun.
“Afterwards we started training again, and it wasn’t so frustrating as we couldn’t do anything about it.
“Look, I had to just take it as it is, as I can’t change things.”
Beterbiev hasn’t fought since October 2019, when he stopped Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the 10th round to retain the IBF light heavyweight title for a third time and take the Ukrainian’s WBC belt.
He’s held the IBF belt since he secured a last-round knockout of Enrico Kölling in November 2017.
Saturday will mark Beterbiev’s first professional bout in Russia.
“I am the kind of boxer who is thinking about the fight exclusively,” he said, according to ESPN. “I remember when I won the world championship and became the IBF champion [in 2017]. I collected the belt and said, ‘OK, there are other belts out there now. I can go ahead and collect the other belts.’ That is my motivation.”
Deines (19-1, 10 KOs) suffered the first loss of his career in June 2019, succumbing to Fanlong Meng via unanimous decision. He’s won twice since, stopping Josef Lehr in August 2019 and doing the same to Yevgenii Makhteienko a month later.
“It’s the biggest challenge in my boxing life,” the 30-year-old German told The Ring of his matchup with Beterbiev. “I feel very fit, well prepared and I’m very optimistic in my first chance to grab a world title belt. Even if it will be very difficult, I will invest everything and reward myself for all the many years of hard training.
“Beterbiev is a strong and tough guy with a 100-percent KO record, the only world champion with such a record. But he’s also only a human being — with weaknesses.
“Maybe this long gap since his (last) boxing performance is more like poison for him as a boxer in (his) mid-30s. We’ll see. I’m flying to Russia and I’m going to win the world championship for SES Boxing, Germany and my family.”
He added: “My coach and I have analyzed all of Beterbiev’s fights and we know him well. I’m known for my hard left, but in the last two years, I became more flexible, (varying) my style with more special boxing skills.”