Artur Beterbiev vs Adam Deines set for Jan. 30 on ESPN+

Artur Beterbiev’s fight with Adam Deines has been officially rescheduled, as Beterbiev will defend the WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles on Saturday, Jan. 30 in what will be Beterbiev’s first pro fight in Russia.

Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KO) was originally supposed to defend against an IBF mandatory challenger in Meng Fanlong, but Fanlong’s visa issues allowed Deines (19-1-1, 10 KO) to step in. Deines, 29, actually lost the IBF eliminator to Meng back in June 2019.

But the fight was repeatedly postponed, and the last time came in mid-September, when Beterbiev suffered a broken rib in training camp. He was hoping to reschedule for December, but that was pushed to January, and now here we are.

In all honesty, it’s a lot of effort to get to a fight that doesn’t move the needle in any way for most people, as Deines will be an enormous underdog whose best chance at victory is likely the somewhat injury-prone Beterbiev getting hurt during a fight and finding himself unable to continue. The best win of Deines’ career, by far, came over Stefan Haertel back in Mar. 2018, a split decision for the German light heavyweight title, which isn’t really a thing, and nobody who’s held the belt has actually made a defense of it since Sven Ottke beat Ali Saidi in 1997.

With the show airing from Russia, Beterbiev-Deines will be an ESPN+ stream in the U.S. afternoon.