Wins & Performances at 39+ years old : Where does Beterbievs rank?

I’d say that Hopkins beating Tarver ranks higher than his victories over Oscar, Pavlik and Pascal…which is saying something

 

It's surely up there as one of the greatest for a 39 year old.

 

Although it was a loss, and although he was dominated, I feel one needs to give B-Hop a shout out for taking Kovalev all 12 just 3 months shy of 50!!! I mean, WTF?

I feel there were a few interesting things that came out of this:-

• First time Kovalev went all 12 (similar vibe to Beterbiev being taken all 12 by Bivol, except Kova was more prime!)
• I feel if this fight hadn't happened and shown Ward that Kova was human, the Ward / Kova fights might not have happened
• Nearly FIFTY YEARS OLD

I know many folks don't have much time for Hopkins, but man this is some achievement in my book!

 

Almost nobody give credit to Beterbiev to look fresher than his PRIME top opponent in the huge ring.


To adapt and actually be dominant in the later rounds, which gave him the edge.

 

Briedis said the same, to look like that at the age of 39 is very impressive.

He said that for couple of years, he lost his reaction time and could not move like usual.

Beterbiev actually improving with age.

 

He beat a prime Bivol while being 39 with a bad knee. Even more impressive.

 

He's got that "I'm never good enough" mentality and is working his ass off.

 

Part of this is expectation. A lot of us expected Beterbiev to beat Bivol easily if Bivol went the distance at all. Beterbiev had a 100% KO rate this fight wasn't supposed to make the longer rounds.

6 years age difference is substantial but Beterbiev was still supposed to win this fight regardless. Historically in a division with Moore and Hopkins a 39 year old undefeated champ beating a 33 year old undefeated champ isn't really going to make anyone blink.

With Benavidez the age gap will be close as large maybe maybe he'll get credit for that if he wins a close one. But for me the limit of Beterbievs ATG case was knocking those guys out.

 

I'm sure someone on another thread - maybe Tinman, maybe yourself can't mind - said that Beterbiev was only 70% of what he was against Gvodzyk or something?

Which is it - improving with age, or significantly declined?

Personally, I saw much the same Beterbiev that was in with Callum Smith, except that he had an elite opponent against him with an elusive style, and harder-than-he-gets-credit-for punches that kept Artur more cautious in the fight until the championship rounds.

 

Not against him, but against Bivol. you can clearly see his movement in Callum Smith fight and in this fight. SO 70%, old Beterbiev beat PRIME P4P boxer which was at 100%. I'm sure Bivol has done everything that he could.

He still had some knee issues, not fully healed, I'm sure he will be better in the next fight.

 

He said it himself, we need 15 rounds of boxing, people like Beterbiev, Loma and others have that stamina in them. I'm sure Bivol would go down if there was 15 rounds. He was at his limit

 

Considering this is Beterbiev's best (or second best; after Gvozdyk) win, he's doing just fine at 39 years old.

 

Going to 15 rounds now would have to include the same fight time stretched over more rounds. In which case stamina wouldn't really come into play.

 

At first I thought my opinion ,that the fight wasn't that good was in the small minority. Now I think upon reflection the perception that it just wasn't as good a fight as was expected is growing. I pretty much agree with your analysis of Beterbiev's effort and add to that my disappointment with Bivol's work rate and you have a disappointment., as far as big fight expectations go.

 

Pretty high up. Around Top 5 at least, especially given how much was at stake and the importance of the fight at 175. Although the fight was very tight that could have gone to either fighters favor Beterbiev still deserves full credit for the win. Some things to consider:

Bivol was the favorite going in to the fight.

Beterbiev is 39 pushing 40.

Beterbiev managed to stay composed and not feel frustrated even while he was getting outboxed early.

Beterbiev showed great ring IQ, made adjustments, turned the tides to his favor, slowed Bivol down and finished the fight strong.

For someone that has never seen the final bell throughout his pro career he still retained great stamina up to the last round and even won the 12th.

The fight was fought in a highly technical fight where Beterbiev was fighting an opponent who is known as the superior technician and is undoubtedly the best fighter he's faced. In a fight that was fought at a pace that favors the supposedly better boxer Beterbiev still managed to fight on even terms.

Beterbiev didn't overly rely on his power to beat Bivol and instead had to use his ring smarts and workrate to win.