Artur Beterbiev took it in stride when he received word that his March 28 light heavyweight defense against Fanlong Meng in Quebec City had been canceled because of the coronavirus. He simply continued his workouts, says head trainer Marc Ramsay.
Make no mistake, though: Beterbiev’s wallet took a hit.
Fighters everywhere today are feeling the financial sting these days, especially those who had fights lined up this spring, as Beterbiev did, only to see them postponed or cancelled outright as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramsay estimates that Beterbiev is out anywhere from $35,000- $52,000 ($50,000 to $75,000 in Canadian dollars) in training camp expenses. It’s money he won’t recover for the time being. Maybe not for a long time.
“It’s a true catastrophe,” Ramsay told the The Journal of Montreal. “In addition to not receiving his purse, Artur is going to absorb all the costs for his training camp.
“It’s a camp that had big expenses in terms of the salary for the six-man team, their allowances, flight tickets and housing.”
A possible silver lining is that promoter Top Rank is seriously looking at the option to stage Beterbiev-Meng in a closed studio shut off from the public. That would mean the card would take place in the U.S., which could be especially problematic for Ramsay, Beterbeiv, but also Ramsay’s other client Oscar Rivas, the Colombian heavyweight contender who was scheduled to appear on the undercard.
The U.S. and Canada recently agreed to close their borders to non-essential traffic.
“Oscar is in Canada on a renewable work permit. If he has to go to the U.S. for a fight, he wouldn’t be able to return to [Canada] but would have to go back to [his home in] Colombia,” Ramsay told The Journal. “For me and Artur, we would have to be quarantined upon our return. In short, we’d be taking a step backwards.”
Ramsay himself is feeling the adverse effects of the coronavirus on his own business. With the exception of Beterbiev and Rivas, Ramsay has closed off his Montreal gym to his regular clientele and has asked his amateur and professional boxers to stay home. Ramsay is trying to think of creative ways to maintain his stable, but with a public health crisis restricting so many aspects of daily life, good ideas are hard to come by.
“We could maybe do our training camp outside, but even that isn’t optimal,” Ramsay said. “In my opinion, we’re far from doing that. We’ll make plans as soon as we get some precise dates.”
