Beterbiev > Bivol

Beterbiev is incredibly overrated imo.

 

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Beterbiev is clearly the greater light heavyweight out of these too. His resume is much better and he beat Bivol in the first fight as well while being almost 40. No debate here.

 

I think beterbiev is one of the most gifted fighters in the history of this division. Not exactly smooth, but powerful, precise, good punching technique, efficient.You can't hope for much more pressure from a fighter.

Sure there are even more impressive fighters in light heavy history than him, but to me he is up there.

Knocking down usyk in the amateurs is a sprinkle on top

 

Both are hellava fighters. Prime for prime Beterbiev likely pulverises him though. There's a reason why Bivol was being so weird about him.

 

Beterb is old, that's the difference. Soviets be starting their pro careers too late!

 

Bivol won both fights. I see no way to score the first fight for Beterbiev. Like literally none. Therefore I see the guy who is 2 - 0 as the better fighter.

 

You can easily score rounds 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 for Artur.

 

Bivol has frozen out the LHW division for 2 years now and he still has his fanboys simping for him on here. Beterbiev all day everyday. He made the fights happen, granted Bivol the immediate rematch and then Bivol held the entire division hostage for 2 years after eeking by with a win. There's no contest. a man in his 40s got the better of him and the rematch was close too. No rational person can make a serious argument that a younger Beterbiev(like the version who fought Gvozdyk) wouldn't beat Bivol more decisively.

 

That's a pretty big stretch with Bivol effectively conceding the last 3 rounds. For me it was a really close ebb & flow encounter, with 4 quarters

Bivol started sharp, Beterbiev was off pace and took his time to get going

I had the first 3 a Bivol sweep, though the 3rd was getting closer for Artur
I had Beterbiev turning things round in the next quarter, making Bivol move a lot more than he wanted to and I scored 4,5 & 6 to Beterbiev
7 thru were the trickiest in the fight to score as Artur slowed a lot in 8, and Bivol came on strong in 9. I had these 3 v close with Beterbiev taking 7, Bivol 9 and 8 being a swing

10,11 & 12 were clear Beterbiev rounds.

Draw was fair, 115-113 either way as well for me

 

I guess it depends on how much physical decline has been observed vs the wisdom / intelligence / experience gained getting older. Was the Hopkins that schooled Pavlik at 43 better all round that the Hopkins that beat Tito?

Whilst Artur has obviously declined physically from the Gvozdyk fight it's hard to quantify by how much etc.

FWIW I'd have loved to seen Gvodzyk v Bivol to have add more dimensions to the comparison.

It's Bob Arum we have to thank for the fight not happening earlier - both fighters talked unification way back, but Arum said there was no money in it.

If it wasn't for Turki I don't think it would have happened AT ALL and that would have been an absolute tragedy, 2 top drawer fights! I don't blame the fighters, I blame the promoters - and I don't trust that Vadim Kornilov on Bivol's team as far as I could spit, he seems really snakey IMO, cut from the Hearn mould

 

Beterbiev just punches hard

 

I just don’t see how to score 4 or 7 to Beterbiev. One guy was landing clean, eye catching shots. The other was landing on the gloves or missing.