Artur Beterbiev

Some people have been wondering how long he could stay at Light-Heavyweight for, but apparently he only walks around 186-189 when he's not fighting. I read somewhere he was only 182.5 (I believe it was this site) on fight night (not sure how true that was), doesn't seem too big to me.
Well one thing for sure, is that Ward wouldn't want to be on the inside against this guy.
You can't let Ward beat you in the negotiation table, don't let him have it his way (Oakland and what not). That's the first thing you have to do, beat him in the negotiation table. Don't let him be the "A-side", if he's not. Well that my opinion anyway.

I would love to see Artur against Fonfara, that would be a solid test.

 

I've never been sold on him, and really don't understand the hype.

Heavy handed and clever at being able to corner opponents, but extremely crude and wide open when throwing big shots.

Pascal would be a good measuring stick.

At this point in time i think Kovalev dismantles him, then KO's him.

Stevenson if he manages to avoid walking onto something, would decapitate him.

The Hopkins matchup is an interesting one, Artur isn't as gifted technically as Kovalev, Hopkins even at his advanced age is capable of exploiting his faults.

 

His finishing instinct is better than Kovalev's in my opinion. He knows exactly which punch will put you to sleep.

Kovalev on the other hand will club you around the ring and enjoy it.

Beterbiev will just spark you with a single punch and walk away.

Power wise he is above Kovalev in my opinion.

Ring IQ can be improved with good sparring.

 

Kovalev has fought a higher level of opponent so we will have to see about Beterbiev's finishing when he steps up. At the moment I find Kovalev more economical with his shots. Beterbiev does waste a few shots, at times.

Kovalev is very effective at setting up his shots and he has done this against a variety of styles, some like Hopkins and Pascal, very tricky styles. Betterbiev will improve over time, but, at this moment in time I favour Kovalev as the more effective and less wasteful puncher.

 

Beterbiev might possibly be similar to Kovalev in that many people believed he was a limited slugger until he fought Hopkins and showed that in reality he can box proficiently himself. There may be aspects to Beterbiev's game we just haven't seen yet. He obviously brings a lot of power into the ring with him but he also brings a lot of high-level international amateur boxing experience with him, not unlike Lomachenko and Usyk, and also not unlike Lomachenko and Usyk, Beterbiev had significant success in international amateur boxing competition. He's not as inexperienced as his professional record indicates. He's already KOed Cloud and Campillo so he's not a total fraud. Next steps are limited because the higher quality opponents start becoming rare and getting one to sign a fight contract is tricky business in itself. What next? Pascal or Fonfara seem to be the logical choices. Both had fights versus either Kovalev or Stevenson and both gave a better account of themselves in their respective title challenges than expected so they are good barometers to measure where Beterbiev is at.

 

The part people are missing here is the opponent having a very, very good chin and being better as he gets credit for.
Both the very talented Garcia as highly touted Alvarez (who fought on the same card) couldn't get that man down, let alone get him outta there. Eleider actually lost a couple of rounds on his way to the UD.
But Beterbiev needed 7 rounds dropping him a couple of times and he's a dissapointment.

I did expect him to take him out in 4 to be fair, but this wasn't such a bad performance people make of it

 

He beats Kovalev 2 times in amateur.

 

I'm still not completely sold onto Artur, for some reason I think he will get knocked out some time in the future, especially if he keeps squaring up when he pins his opponent against the ropes while throwing flurries of punches

 

Kovalev would beat him for sure, a wide UD.

 

Matthysse vs provodnikov.
But with more power on show IMO. And danger for both.

Kovalev will land 5 or so to beterbiev's one.
A few scares inbetweene but kovalev is the better boxer. He will choose to box beterbiev no one will willingly slug with artur.

 

Good call. That would be interesting, but I'm not sure that Pascal needs more brain damage one right after another.

 

I don't see why that would keep him out until October. Ramadan is only from June 17th to July 17th.

 

Still, it will. His next date is in October, then presumably something close to a title eliminator in December. Both months (not exact dates) confirmed @ PBC.

 

Great info on the weight issue.:good

On a side note; During the broadcast they said Beterviev claimed an amateur record of 300-5.

Just off the top of my head he has losses to

Usyk X2
Atoev
Chinese guy who won gold in 08'

That's 4 but two were robberies. Hard to believe he only has 1 other amateur loss.