damn, I had it wrong, I predicted Gvozdyk UD 12. but after the first round, you could tell Gvozdyk was having a hard time dealing with his pressure... I thought Gvozdyk's jab would be good enough to keep him off, but it wasn't. Congrats Artur, definitely the best in the division. I smell a superfight in Moscow, Kovalev and Beterbiev, after Kovalev beats Canelo of course.
Good fight. After Kovalev loses his belt to Canelo, Canelo and Beterbiev can have a superfight in Moscow where Beterbiev gets stopped on cuts after being too afraid to throw body shots at Canelo. $$$$$$$. Easy work.
Beterbiev was objectively ahead 5-3 after 8. You could hear the thud of his punches and could see he was landing the heavier shots. Although I can see how people preferred the Nails activity and work at distance. He won the 9th big and the 10th he finally got to the nail.
What a terrific fight, and a great win for Beterbiev, he can sure hit. He walked down Gvozdyk throughout the whole match, taking his combos until the end came. I do not see anybody beating him.
Beterbiev is a monster. It was a good fight and Gvozdyk landed some solid shots, but Beterbiev is a stamina robot. He kept on going round after round by putting pressure on Gvozdyk and breaking him down piece by piece. Beterbiev is definitaly one of the best fighters in de world.
I lost my **** when ukrainian commentator called him BTR, it abbreviation for armoured personnel carrier.
The reason I struggled to call it is because I felt Beterbiev had wasted his prime and his lack of big opponent's as a pro would count against him.Talk about stepping up on the night though. I hope the Nail can pick up after this loss as it was a true 50/50 fight and for that we should applaud both. Such a difficult fight to score with many pick em rounds.
That stamina was impressive. He was a bit better technically than before, but he still has some openings in his defense. The thing is it's going to take someone who hits harder than Gvozdyk to slow Beterbiev down, and there aren't many who do. At his age, Beterbiev who has a super hero comic book type of body get his big fights in now. He only made 1.5 million last night. His demand for his next fight would be huge. The winner of Canelo vs Kovalev?
Nah. Fighting in Russia would be a different experience for Canelo. No sympathetic judges. No special treatment.
I had it 4-4 after 8, although the general impression was that of Gvozdyk literally fighting to keep himself in the fight. I thought Gvozdyk would win the fight, I thought his footwork and movement would be the main difference in the fight as although I was and still am a massive Beterbiev fan I thought he’s been stagnating over the last couple of years. However, great pressure, great footwork by Beterbiev and the better fighter won.
Unfortunately that's part of boxing. If Loma fights Salido in the Ukraine, do you think Salido would be allowed to foul his way to a close decision? If Hatton fight Kosta outside of England, do you think he'd get away with the mauling and wrestling tactics he employed? Hatton I think is a guy who made a career out of questionable tactics. Not being able to utilize those tactics in the US diminished his effectiveness. If Golota fought Bowe in Warsaw, the ref might have missed those low blows like in Ward vs Kov. I could go on and on but you get the idea. I'm not picking on any one country or group. Just saying a certain amount of bias is inherent in the sport. Pretty sure its always been that way. I do think the EE fighters have a little bit tougher time fighting out of the US though as every fight is an "away game". They are not fighting on home turf with home judges and the financial power that comes with a large built-in fan base.