People think he is just a slugger but his ring IQ is massively underrated. There are so many subtle elements to his game; his timing, control and positioning are masterful. Once he figures you out it is only a matter of time before you are getting chinned. This video breaks it down very well This content is protected
Anybody who stays at the top at age 38 is a technical fighter. You don't do what Beterbiev does at 38 with athleticism.
Joe Smith was genuinely rendered senseless. Yarde, Browne, Gvozdyk, Hot Rod, Deines, etc. quit with their facilities in tact.
None of them quit, again... more unhinged delusions. They were all beaten down until the ref or the corner stopped the fight. That's not quitting. Rabbit punches came into play with all of them being beaten into submission. Sure, you can continue to deny this is happening. All it does is serve to make you looking even more unhinged. Hell, the thread starter is practically Beterbiev's one man PR team, and even he's admitted that Beterbiev has a really bad sketchy habit of landing illegal or borderline illegal blows to the back of his opponents skulls. If this happened once, you can chalked it up as an accident, when it happens repeatedly, it means one of two things, he's really sloppy and has poor technique, which we both know isn't the case. Or the second option, it's being done intentionally, but disguised as unintentional.
Gvozdyk and Browne both took knees and opted out. There are multiple avenues to a knockout. Option 1 turn off their brain. Option 2 break their spirit. Option 3 break their body.
With the amount of times I’ve heard that he’s “underrated”, I think it’s safe to say he no longer is.
Alot of rabbit punches are a result of the opponent turning away. It happens alot more lately boxers trying to roll with punches when they are basically on their last legs rather than putting their hands up. Some boxers think they have ggg hagler type of punch resistance. He has thrown some dodgy looking punches but certianly not against yarde or smith.
Certainly, but Beterbiev when presented with those shots, doesn't need to take advantage of them over and over again. The rabbit punching against Gvozdyk was straight up egregious, the ref should've docked him several points quite frankly. Also, he camouflages it well, but I think he's deliberately setting up shots like that. He usually lands several cuffing shots to the side of the head, usually because they have their high guards up, getting them to turn, so he can take them out with a rabbit punch. It's very much GGG and Kovalev like, he's making openings where he can't find one. Unfortunately, his openings are of the questionable variety. Also, go back and watch the Smith Jr. fight, almost every shot that put Joe down was to the back/side of his head. As far as Yarde goes, the shot that stunned him was a right, but Beterbiev put him down with a vicious clubbing shot to the back of the head.
Kovalev was by far the cleaner puncher of them all. I think the way beterbiev fights its more rushed and less skillful, its a brutal mode all the time he will hit what he sees. Marcianoesque. Its a fine line though, kovalev is one of the best clean punchers of all time. At the higherweighta it becomes a war of attritution and these things happen. Hopkins and ward are another class of cheat, headbutts and lowblows non stop. Beterbiev is on watch though. But if he does the same to bivol i will wonder, given that bivol is defensively class and has great reflexes.