Greater fighter: Yoko Gushiken or Yuri Arbachakov

Gushiken was more consistent, his prime lasted longer.

Yuri was a better H2H fighter in his short prime and had a better overall resume.


Lora or Flea will give you an in depth explanation on their opposition.

 

I think Arbachakov was better.

In a way they both suffer with opposition, but less so. Gushiken never faced the WBC champs in his time, and they were f'n good. Arbachakov suffered, as pretty much every lower weight guy post-80s has done admittedly, through lack of bouts with other champions.

Gushiken was beautiful to watch, and a precise sharpshooter when on form, but Arbachakov beat the better fighters (Kittikasem x2/Sasakul, when Yuri was fading) and looked just as good.

Gushiken's loss was pitiful to be honest. And at times he gave the Watanabe-esque impression of not caring in the ring and looking a bit laboured.

Some of Gushiken's light fly oppo' was decent (Rios and Guzman both looked alright) but his best wins were over faded flys (Lopez and Vargas, the former talented but weak, the latter a strong puncher) but as aforementioned, Yuri proved himself against better fighters in the more prestigious division (with lineal title to boot if that means anything to anyone)

 

like de rest of yor posts it solidifies my suspects about yor lack of knowledge about Carbajal , Castro , Gonzalez and Gamez .

 

I think ARbachakov was better but tbh I watched him more.....I think I have seen 2 or 3 Gushiken fights only and that was some time ago....

 

Yuri for me, close but clear. He just fought and beat a couple of fighters who seemed a class above those Yoko fought. I would favor him H2H. They can both smack especially for little guys but Yuri edges it in handspeed I think. Yuri also was the rare fighter that feasted on southpaws which Yoko was.


Yoko was also eventually worn down and stopped once, Yuri went the distance in his lone loss.

 

Both had similar career arcs.I'd say it mostly just comes down to who you think was the more effective and greater talent.

A lot of the same drawbacks and strengths can be laid in front of both...as fighters and in terms of career accomplishment.

Yuri probably has some slight advantages in that he faced slightly better or fresher opponents in a classic division instead of a needless ******* weightclass...Gushiken really should have just fought at Flyweight too, but took the easiest path to a title.He also didn't go out in quite such a poor anti-climactic manner as Yoko did.He has injuries as excuse for his inactivity and still fought a spirited fight against Sasakul second time out.That was a very good fight, even if he lost clearly-about 8-4-he still had success and showed his will and toughness.

Gushiken went out in his last couple of fights-supposedly burned out and struggling with the weight- in a way that would have made the recent Shane"i'm only here for the money if he hits me back"Mosley ashamed.

On the other hand though, Gushiken did decisively beat everyone he fought up until then.Arbachakov was the king of the close decision nearly all of his defences were close back and forth affairs.

Zamudio, Nam-Hoon Cha, Arciniega, Sasakul I, Juarez.....those were fights i really had to sit and score before i was entirely sure who had won.

It seemed to me that he fell off a couple notches physically very quicklyafter the Kittikassem rematch and despite his undoubted technique and power, he was susceptible to being drawn into tough fights by every style he faced.There didn't seem to be any particular style he had a comfort zone against.

Perhaps it was because his workrate was often on the low side for a Fly and he was very methodical.He'd stay too long in a probing, range-finding mode behind an inconsistent jab and the sporadic sharpshooting right hand. his excellent combinations and brutal left-hook he threw far too rarely.

Gushiken could give a similar disinterestedly methodical look too, but not to the same extent unless the foe was hopeless and just trying to survive ie. the terribly tedious fight with aniceto Vargas, where it looked as if he could have stopped him much earlier if he'd given more than a tiny effort.Usually he was quicker to try different punches and pacing if his opponent was having success.

arbachakov tended more to just chug away with the same rhythm and punches, eventually prevailing through his accuracy and footwork.A rare exception was against Toguchi, who had antagonised before the fight and was on the end of some brutal fast combinations and varied punching whenever he threatened to get into the fight.

when i look at them technically i see a similar approach to textbook box-fighting.Both love controlling range with high-level textbook footwork and impeccable use of pivots, half-steps and angles in general, all from ring-centre.Arbachakov had the quicker feet though, at least initially.

Both have all the punches thrown well as leads, combinations and counters, methodically setting them up behind a range-finding jab-though both can deliver a good stiff jab as well, usually as a single disruptive punch.They prefer to keep things to that and the follow up straight right\left as the basic go to punches, though Gushiken comes back with a follow up hook to finish exchanges far more often.

Both good bodypunchers, neither notably fast of hand for the weight, though arbachakov the edge there for his first few defences.

Good sound textbook defence for both, though neither(especially Arbachakov) have notable defensive reflexes.

arbachakov relied more on his footwork for avoiding punches i'd say, though he could slip punches nicely at times, he didn't have quick upperbody work or give many clever angles there.Quite minimal upperbody defensive work with as little wasted motion as possible, which might have worked better had he been a bit more reflexively talented.

Gushiken got into better defensive positions with his upperbody and showed a good radar in a fair few of his fights imo.He could get into a better slip and counter groove(against guys like Guzman even quite Duran-esque at times) than Yuri, but you could perhaps argue he would have struggled against better fighters to do similar and he did sometimes give off much the same look and flaws as Yuri defensively.Against the slick crafty and partially rejuvenated Alfonso Lopez for instance, who was giving him little to counter and picking his shots well.

Two really good fighters, slightly inferior-despite more balanced attributes-in a similar style to forum legend Ayub Kalule.:yep

 

Yuri looked better in the Kittikasem fights than any other, particularly the first. Yoko never looked as good for me.

 

Could that be that Kittikasem had a perfect style for him?

Its interesting what lora notes saying he struggled with every challenger. I have not seen all his fights but I have mostly just seen his early stuff and Kittikasem, and he looks great against afew styles and has a good few dominant KO wins. So I dont think Kittikasem had an easy style for him and that Arbachakov isnt a great fighter, do you guys think he lacked mtivation as champ?

 

Yuri wasn't lacking motivation.

But he declined physically very quickly.

And he struggled with hand injuries.

Check out his post-Kitty fights and you'll notice the difference, GP.

 

will do

ive seen the chin fight it was a really fun fight

 

Bump

 

Yuri for me.

The Kitkassem (sp) win makes the difference for me.

Ability wise, they both rate highly, and also held similar weaknesses.

Some great old posts again. What happened to these?

 

Absolutely brilliant post here.

 

Yoko for me by a hair (or an Afro)

They have some similarities and major differences as well.

To me Yuri has the superior foot movement, speed, and solid upper body, head movement. He is also the more dynamic explosive puncher.

Yoko the more calm and patient (in the mold of (Samart, Arguello, Sanchez) IMO and he seems to be always composed. Possessing solid power of his own, but more calculated and less dynamic in the delivery of it. His balance and control of pace and space is top notch.

They both like to control center ring, while making their opponent circle and expend energy in moving. But Yuri seems better or at least more comfortable backing up when the situation or approach calls for it.

To me the big difference is calmness vs aggression? Perhaps I see it wrong?

Yuri seems to have a tendency to throw caution to the wind and press the action to furiously when an opponent is hurt or leaving himself to open defensively when throwing. Yoko is one of the more calm/composed finishers I have seen and seems content to patiently break a guy down rather than rushing a finish.

I don’t think either choice is a bad one, but having watched both guys Yoko nips it for me