Denys Yurievich "The Ukrainian Tank" Berinchyk

This wonderful mad bastard fought last week, though you'd be forgiven to have not had any idea of that, buried as he was on a non-televised card (with Viktor Postol in the co-main event, getting dropped by some novice). This scenario is, sadly, pretty much par for the course for him since his last significantly viewed outing almost two years ago, when he battered György Mizsei Jr. on an Oleksandr Usyk card shown on Інтер.

Just look at his ring walk, the wonderful mad bastard:

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Now, look at his credentials, if you're wondering how a 7-0 prospect you might have not heard of (if you happen to not be a big amateur boxing nerd) has me this worked up. Berinchyk holds amateur victories over:

• Jeff Horn (requires no introduction, just beat Manny freaking Pacquiao)
• Uranchimegiin Mönkh-Erdene (bad ass Mongolian, 3x Olympian)
• Thomas Stalker (high-workrate but featherfisted Liverpudlian, captain of Great Britain's successful 2012 Olympic team, less successful pro than amateur but about to contend for the Commonwealth lightweight title)
• Anthony Yigit (slick & mercurial Swede and tall southpaw, currently Euro champ @ 140lbs)
• Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo (legend in the making, 2x Olympic gold medalist, and depending on who you ask the best Cuban boxer of his generation aka currently under 30 - although stiff competition exists in the form of Erislandy Savón, Lázaro Álvarez, Julio Cesar La Cruz, and Robeisy Eloy Ramírez Carrazana)

...plus a slew more. He was a dominant and dreaded force of nature for several years before turning over.

This ambidextrous (frequently stance-switching for the sheer fun of it, or to psyche his victims out), fearless, stalking boxer-puncher with massive bone-crushing power for his size and just a downright spiteful punching style would be putting asses in seats by now if he were based in a major US city with a deep-pocketed outfit promoting him. Klitschko Bros & co., step up your game! You've got a grand cru noble grape on your hands, don't let it die on the vine! He's only 29, so there is still time.

 

Berinchyk should just go to California, destroy cheap poseur (and Ukrainian countryman) Ivan Redkach and steal his built-in fan-base.

 

He needs a nickname, I think "Rabid Bear" suits him.

Hannibal's a good choice too. His pre-fight gimmick could be licking his chops through a muzzle-mask at his opponents across the ring to get into their heads and defeat them mentally before "devouring them alive" once the bell sounds, Mike Tyson style.

 

Here is Berinchyk vs. Ismael García:

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He does need to watch moments like at 11:54, where he gets overexcited and his work grows untidy. In another location than at home, a ref might have ruled that a knockdown (as one can argue the Spaniard did technically land a cuffing left hook behind the neck as Berinchyk twirled himself down with the momentum of his own missed shot). With a sharper/bigger puncher than García the consequence might even be a real no-doubt-about-it flash KD, which even if he bounces right up and isn't hurt by it (no worries about his chin really), still costs points.

García actually looks halfway decent, like he could be in the Euro title chase in the near future, but he just got taken into the prison shower and made into Berinchyk's property, to be traded for a carton of cigarettes whenever he pleases.

 

Denys, who is just 29, can also lay claim to having been a pro kickboxing world champ, casually straddling his time in amateur boxing as the Ukraine's notorious pet Tasmanian devil on the international scene.

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Same exact "fuck you, I'm ripping your throat out, don't give a toss if these punches end up spinning me off balance and knocking me on my own arse" style in both disciplines. Nutter.

(he's in the blue headgear, in case you couldn't tell)

 

Another few development fights and I'd be confident throwing him in with a Linares, figuring there's a 50-50 chance Linares boxes him to a UD or gets KTFO late while up on the cards.

 

Those aforementioned wild & undisciplined heat-of-the-moment tendencies (a byproduct of fighting with so much emotion) can lead to him getting schooled by a pure boxer - as in this infamous spar with much smaller teammate Lomachenko:

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Not being managed properly.

 

Better chance of bagging a belt at 135 or 140, do we reckon?