But why did it seem so disappointing?
Likely it was due to the seventeen months away from the ring and the high expectations after his dazzling win over Olekansdr Gvoszdyk and combined with yet another weak sister IBF mandatory challenger in Adam Deines, but Beterbiev was expected to blast Deines out quickly and wait for the winner of the Joe Smith-Maxim Vlasov fight in April for the long-vacant WBO title.
That didn't happen and give a little credit to Deines for being tougher than expected, but more likely it was Beterbiev getting the viscosity rolling through the system after the layoff and getting some rounds in to prepare for larger challenges.
Beterbiev knocked Deines down in the first and it briefly appeared that the evening would be a short one, but the knockdown occurred late in the round and was more of a flash knockdown rather than a crushing blow that ends fights.
The next eight rounds were repeated over and over with Beterbiev grinding Deines down, but not pressing the attack to try to finish the evening until the tenth when after Deines rose from a knockdown his corner waved the towel for an honorable surrender.
For Deines, it's back to the European tour and while Beterbiev didn't look tremendous- he did win every round and looking at his career, Beterbiev fights best when he feels he's being tested and he may have felt that Deines was simply not of his caliber.
A Beterbiev-Joe Smith fight for three of the four titles would be an action battle between the two hardest punchers in the light heavyweight division, while a Beterbiev-Maxim Vlasov pairing would not be as attractive to fans, should Vlasov pull the upset he would certainly deserving of a test against Beterbiev.
Ramon Malpica and I each added two points in the boxing challenge to move the overall total to 30-27.
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