On Saturday night, Artur Beterbiev successfully unified the WBC, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight titles following a knockout victory against Joe Smith Jr. at Madison Square Garden.
The undefeated Chechen-born and Canada-based boxer scored three knockdowns before the fight was stopped with less than a minute of round two remaining. The victory improved the 37-year-old boxer’s record to a flawless 18-0, all by knockout, and places him in line for some exciting bouts in the near future.
Yet among those who stayed up to watch Beterbiev throttle his opponent was Ramzan Kadyrov, the dictator at the helm of Russia’s Chechnya region who is currently facing U.