One of the nost destructive fighters I've ever seen. Probably the most violent fighter since a prime Manny Pacquiao. The difference being that Manny was a small man in a low weight class. There is only so much damage a man that small can do. You take a beating from Manny and the body will eventually get over it. Beterbiev is a natural LHW and has huge power even for that division. There is no coming back from an ass whooping like that. If you just look at Beterbiev's resume it's amazing what he does to the men he fights. He completely destroys their career trajectory. These are world class fighters too. They either retire, take a long layoff or they are demoted to journeymen status. That's why Bivol has been so reluctant to fight him. It's an ass whooping that you can't come back from.
Beterbiev is good, but he's still not dangerous enough to earn the This content is protected title. That goes for the special tier of destructive fighters like Shavers. He was so destructive that he was outright avoided by a lot of guys, including the likes of Frazier and Foreman. They refused to fight him on the basis that he hit too hard and well, Ali was a prime example of why they avoided him. Ali's match with Shavers is what caused him to get brain damage due to Shavers hits. Shavers also left a permanent notch in Holmes skull after he landed that shotgun right to the head. He's even shown it to people in interviews. Beterbiev might cause career ending damage, but a close encounter with Shavers can and will leave permanent life changes. Tex Cobb most famously said if anyone hit harder than Shavers, he'd shoot him rather than taking that punch because "Earnie could punch you in the neck with his right hand and break your ankle."
Beterbiev is an absolute monster and id think he’d beat everyone from a prime Kov to Ward but let’s not pretend like he’s ruining the trajectory of world class fighters. He beat one real elite world class fighter in Gvozdyk.
He's beaten 1 elite fighter. But has also beaten plenty of other world class fighters near the top of the division. Browne and Smith Jr's career are pretty much over now.
He didn’t end Smiths career lmao. If anything Smith was already on the downfall and didn’t Browne already get beat by an old Pascal?
He certainly makes fighters who are in the second half of their careers think about calling it a day. Seeing Gvozdyk fade away after taking a beating was a bit sad. Glad he's getting back in the mix finally, but I suspect he'll never be the same.
That's what Canelo would want, and then say "David was never any good, but I won't fight Beterbiev, he's also no good".
He doesn’t get enough credit for his win over The Nail. That was two prime undefeated champions fighting each other and it was a hell of a fight.