The undisputed light-heavyweight world champion will take on Dmitry Bivol in a rematch on Saturday (22.02.25) and admits that his mother is the only person who could bring an end to his career in the ring.

Beterbiev told Sky Sports: "Yes, but I think my mum never says that. She gives me this power. Like any mother, any mother worries about their child. Yes, my mother worries but she supports me. She gave me approval."

The Canadian boxer is in the final stages of his career at the age of 40 but still thinks that he has explosive performances in his locker.

He said: "I think it's going to be in the future. Maybe on Saturday, maybe later, we'll see."

Beterbiev earned a close points decision victory over Bivol in the initial fight last year and hopes to settle any anger about the result by triumphing in the rematch.

He explained: "They can say anything. I don't care about it. My challenge is to do better than last time.

"We needed to learn. We had some mistakes, we needed to correct them. Of course, we learn. We will see, it's coming in a short time, we will see.

"You see something different, why I did this, why I did not do this. Automatically you want to change something."

Beterbiev is desperate to maintain his status as a world champion and is motivated by any challenge he faces.

The undefeated fighter said: "I want to keep my belts. It gives me some motivation too but I have my own motivation. I'm always motivated for the next challenge. Any challenge for me is motivation."