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Team Expects He'll Still Get IBF Title Shot After Beterbiev-Deines 9/25
Meng Fanlong’s handlers expect that his shot at Artur Beterbiev’s IBF light heavyweight title has been postponed, not canceled.
The unbeaten Chinese contender is the IBF’s mandatory challenger for Beterbiev’s belt. They were scheduled to meet March 28 at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada, but their 12-round, 175-pound championship match was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once Beterbiev’s defense was rescheduled for September 25 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, however, it became clear to Fanlong’s team that Beterbiev would fight someone else next month. Fanlong could enter Russia to battle Beterbiev, but COVID-19 and visa issues would prevent him from returning to his home country, where his wife and young daughter reside, or the United States, where he trains in northern New Jersey.
Russia’s Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) will instead make an optional title defense against Adam Deines, the IBF’s sixth-ranked contender. Coincidentally, Fanlong (16-0, 10 KOs) defeated Deines (19-1-1, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-round IBF elimination match in June 2019 to become the IBF’s number one contender at 175 pounds.
ESPN’s Mark Kriegel first reported that Germany’s Deines replaced Fanlong as Beterbiev’s opponent during an ESPN+ stream Saturday night that featured Joe Smith Jr.’s ninth-round knockout of Eleider Alvarez. Beterbiev-Deines likely will be streamed by ESPN+ on September 25.
“Meng wants the fight with Beterbiev, but when we learned from Top Rank that they were moving it to Russia, that just created a whole bunch of problems,” Terry Lane, Fanlong’s adviser, told BS.com. “First of all, Meng Fanlong is in the U.S. on what’s called a P-1 visa. It’s a single-entry visa, so every time he leaves the country, he has to get it renewed to come back. He’s been in New Jersey [training for Beterbiev]. On top of that, the border between China and Russia is completely closed.
“So, if he were to go to Russia and fight, he could not then go home to China, which he normally does. He takes a little break [after he fights] and then he gets a new P-1 visa from our government, and then returns back to the U.S. So, he cannot go to Russia and then go to China to get his P-1 to come back to the U.S. He can get into Russia, but he cannot get out of Russia. Because of that, the fight might as well be on the moon. We let Top Rank know this.”
Fanlong’s team has conferred with IBF president Daryl Peoples regarding maintaining his mandatory position due to these highly unusual circumstances.
“The latest that I heard is that Fanlong’s mandatory spot is not gonna be compromised,” Lane said, “that his ranking’s not gonna be compromised. This fight [Beterbiev-Deines] will probably just be considered an optional defense due to the circumstances, and then we’ll be next in line.”
The 32-year-old Fanlong likely will take a tune-up fight to stay sharp while waiting for his shot at Beterbiev, assuming the heavily favored knockout artist defeats Deines. Fanlong, a southpaw who represented China at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, has not fought since October 5, when he knocked out Mexico’s Gilberto Rubio (9-9, 6 KOs) in the second round.
The time frame within which Fanlong would receive his title shot is unclear. Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., which co-promoters Beterbiev, also has preliminary plans to match Beterbiev versus Smith (26-3, 21 KOs) if Smith beats the winner between Umar Salamov (25-1, 19 KOs) and Maksim Vlasov (45-3, 26 KOs) for the WBO light heavyweight title.
