Artur Beterbiev gets off canvas, stops Jeff Page in round two

Kansas fighter Jeff Page Jr did a lot better than expected, but he still wound up stopped in the second round against top light heavyweight prospect Artur Beterbiev tonight in Quebec City, dropped three times in the second frame after putting Beterbiev on the canvas in the first round.

Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KO) was stunned in the first round with a nice counter shot from Page (15-1, 10 KO), which put him down for the first time in his career, but after the break between rounds, the Russian came out gunning for the knockout in round two, perhaps a bit embarrassed by going down.

The headhunting Beterbiev flurried on Page to start the round, sending him to the canvas after sustained pressure. The second knockdown came on a single straight right hand, and the third seemed all but a given, with referee Jean-Guy Brousseau stopping the contest at 2:21 of the second round.

"I felt a bit sleepy before the fight. I think I just lost my concentration for a fraction of a second," Beterbiev said of the knockdown, through a translator. "I got a bit angry after that, and I decided to go forward," adding, "I have a lot to learn in professional boxing."