Who is Artur Beterbiev outside of the boxing ring? All you need to know about the champion pugilist’s personal life

Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev has a fearsome record in his professional boxing career, without any blemishes. Over the years, Beterbiev has built a reputation for being respectful toward his opponents outside the ring.

While he has largely kept his personal life away from the glitter and glamor of the sports entertainment industry, here are some details of the 40-year-old's life outside of boxing.

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Who is Artur Beterbiev outside of the boxing ring?

Artur Beterbiev enjoys a private personal life with his close family and friends. Although the 38-year-old was born in a small city named Khasavyurt in Dagestan, he now resides with his family in Montreal, Quebec, and also holds Canadian citizenship.

Beterbiev is described as a 'devout Muslim' who observes his daily prayers by his trainer Marc Ramsay.

Beterbiev drives a black Mercedes and employs self-deprecating humor that instantly makes him a likable personality.

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Artur Beterbiev's thoughts on boxing and the purpose of life

Looking at Artur Beterbiev's dedication to the sport of boxing and the level of success he has achieved in the sport, one may think that boxing must occupy a large part of his mental bandwidth.

However, that does not seem to be the case. According to Beterbiev, boxing is a job for him, and he does not associate it with his passion or purpose in life. In a December 2024 interview with Smile 2 Jannah, Beterbiev said:

"I'm not really a fan of boxing. I'm not dreaming about fighting someone. This sport is like my job, like you do your job. I'm not a fan of this sport."

When asked what he wants to achieve in life and what he dreams about, Beterbiev added:

"We have more important things to dream of - to live with them, you know. For example, living in this Duniya [world] to earn, how can I say, to get Akhira Jannah [afterlife in Heaven]."

Check out Artur Beterbiev's comments below (3:10):

Akhira is a concept of an afterlife in the Islamic faith. Muslims believe that after their time on the earth comes to an end, people will be judged based on their behavior throughout their lives and sent either to Hell (Jahannam) or Heaven (Jannah). 'Akhira Jannah' roughly translates to 'Afterlife in heaven'.

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Artur Beterbiev's family life

Artur Beterbiev prefers to live an understated life with his Russian-born wife, Medina, and his four children aged between six and 13. His last two children were born in Canada.

Outside of his wife and children, Beterbiev is the part of a close-knit family of his three brothers and mother. The Chechen-born fighter places family responsibilities at the forefront of everything and, together with his brothers, he takes care of his mother.

Unfortunately, Beterbiev's father passed away approximately 22 years ago. Not a lot is known about him. While he has been fulfilling the responsibility of taking care of his mother together with other siblings, Beterbiev thinks he can do more. In the aforementioned interview with Smile 2 Jannah, Beterbiev said:

"We are four brothers, and I believe all four brothers try to take care of our mom. I believe, all four brothers, we do something - like part by part, you know. But, it's not enough. If we put together all the things we do together for our mom, it's not much. We need to do more, I think." [7:17]

Beterbiev places a lot of importance on treating people well. When asked about how he wants to be remembered, Beterbiev said that he was 'not a bad boxer' and emphasizes that whether he is good at boxing or not, he does not want to talk trash talk with his opponents, ever.

Beterbiev became the undisputed light heavyweight champion with his win over Dmitry Bivol in the title unification bout in October 2024. He will attempt his first undisputed title defense against Bivol at the 'Last Crescendo' boxing event, scheduled to take place on Feb. 22 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.