By Keith Idec

Fight fans familiar with his work weren’t at all surprised when Artur Beterbiev knocked down Jeff Page Jr. three times in the second round before referee Jean-Guy Brousseau stopped their Dec. 19 bout in Quebec City, Canada.

Watching the unbeaten Russian light heavyweight hit the canvas toward the end of the first round raised some eyebrows, though. While Page’s right hand didn’t appear to land flush on Beterbiev’s chin and Beterbiev was moving backward when he went down, that marked the first time Beterbiev suffered a knockdown as a pro or amateur.

He responded about as well as his handlers could’ve hoped from that flash knockdown. The fast-rising contender got right to his feet just as the first round was coming to an end and floored the previously unbeaten Page (16-1, 10 KOs) three times in the next round on his way to a knockout victory.

“I don’t think that was a knockdown,” Beterbiev said on a recent conference call. “I just lost my balance for an instant. I recovered right away, instantly. But I still think that this is a good lesson for me, for this not to happen in the future. And I’m going to try to avoid any dangerous situations in my future.”

The 30-year-old Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) will return to the ring for the first time since stopping Page on Saturday. He’ll oppose Spain’s Gabriel Campillo (25-6-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC), a former WBA light heavyweight title-holder, in a 12-round fight that’ll start CBS’ broadcast at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT from Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City. WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) is set to defend his WBC light heavyweight title against Cameroon’s Sakio Bika (32-6-3, 21 KOs) in the 12-round main event.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.