DEON NICOLSON claims that his clash with Artur Beterbiev, which was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 22, has been scuppered.
The pair were supposed to feature on the undercard of David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde, with Beterbiev, 21-1 (20 KOs), returning for the first time since his defeat to Dmitry Bivol in February.
Back then, the 40-year-old lost his undisputed light-heavyweight crown via a majority decision verdict, the exact same margin that saw him emerge victorious following their first encounter in October 2024.
Due to the enthralling and fiercely-contested nature of their two showdowns, both Beterbiev and Bivol were then expected to collide in a rubber match later this year.
But with the reigning champion opting to remain out of the ring for the rest of 2025, taking the time to recover from his back surgery in August, Beterbiev instead agreed to take a keep-busy fight against Nicolson, 22-1 (18 KOs).
That, however, now appears to be off the table, with Nicolson taking to social media to suggest that he will no longer be facing the Russian knockout specialist next month.
“Just got word that my fight with Artur Beterbiev was cancelled,” The American wrote on a Facebook post yesterday. “Be the will of God, I’ll have info on another fight soon.”
Prior to landing his fight with Beterbiev, there was very little to suggest that the 35-year-old was worthy of such an opportunity.
He did, after all, suffer a third-round stoppage defeat to Efetobor Apochi – a solid yet unremarkable operator – back in 2021, and has otherwise faced a rather underwhelming calibre of opposition.
But regardless of that, we now await further details regarding his next outing, and indeed the reasoning for why his contest with Beterbiev has seemingly fallen through.
