Canadian-based Russian Beterbiev stops Maderna in four to retain NABA title

MONTREAL – Artur Beterbiev made an impressive return from a year-long layoff from a shoulder injury to stop Ezequiel Maderna in the fourth round and retain his North American light heavyweight title early Sunday morning.

Beterbiev (10-0 with 10 knockouts), a Russian based in Montreal, became the first to stop Maderna (23-3) before the limit. It was also a third loss for Maderna in fights outside Argentina.

The show included a tribute to Muhammad Ali, with the traditional 10-bell salute to honour the former heavyweight champion who died late Friday.

The 31-year-old Beterbiev showed no rust as he announced his return with a pair of solid body shots in an otherwise quiet opening round. Maderna looked to fight off trouble as the muscular and quick-handed Beterbiev began to take control in the second.

In the third, Beterbiev landed a big overhand right and followed with another to send Maderna to the floor, then knocked him down again with a flurry of shots along the ropes.

The fourth was only a few seconds old when Maderna was taking yet another eight-count and then was floored with a right that prompted referee Marlon B. Wright to stop the bout.

Beterbiev is slated to fight twice more this year to try to get into position for a world title bout in 2017, but he is also pondering a shot an Olympic medal now that pros have been given the green light to compete at the 2016 Rio Games. He would need to qualify at a tournament July 3-8 in Venezuela.

The co-feature was a lively but brief all-American battle between free-swinging David (Day Day) Grayton (14-1) of Washington, D.C. and the lanky southpaw Bryant Perrella (14-0) of Fort Myers, Fla. Perrella scored a TKO 2:19 into the second round of the scheduled 10-round middleweight bout.

Perrella caught Grayton flush with two shots in the first, then unloaded in the second, stunning him with a left that drew an eight-count from referee Michael Griffin. Grayton was rocked by a right before he was backed into a corner and pounded to the canvas, moving Griffin to stop the fight.

Heavyweight Oscar (Kaboom) Rivas (19-0), a Colombian based in Montreal, needed only 1 minute 47 seconds to finish off Jeremy (The Beast) Bates (26-18-1) with three knockdowns.

Even though he won a clear unanimous decision, Vislan Dalkaev (7-0) of Montreal got a good test by going the six-round distance with Javier Franco (25-18-4) in a super-bantamweight bout.

Baie St. Paul, Que. native Sebastien Bouchard (13-1) landed some bombs and got the decision but couldn’t put down Belgian Arnaud Dimidschtein in an eight rounder.

Super-middleweight Dario Bredeicean (9-0) of Montreal knocked out Balasz Horvath (25-18) of Hungary in one round, while Toronto featherweight Parnell Fisher (1-1) won all four rounds over Larami Carmona (1-3-0) of Mexico.

A swing bout saw light middleweight Jamontay Clark (10-0) of Cincinnati survive a knockdown to post a six-round decision over Edgar Ortega (16-6) of Mexico.

Promoter Yvon Michel and 1960 Olympian Gaby Mancini presented Ariane Fortin with a $5,000 cheque to help her preparations for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janiero. Fortin and Mandy Bujold will represent Canada in women’s boxing at the Games.

At ringside was Adonis Stevenson, who will defend his WBC light heavyweight title July 16 in Quebec City against Thomas Wiliams.