Having beaten French rival Sofiane Takoucht in their rematch last weekend (far more comfortably than some odd judging on two of the official scorecards would suggest), the Armenian-Georgian-Belgian former Euro champ (vacated) has positioned himself as #1 contender to IBF featherweight champion Russian-American(-honorary Mexican) Evgeny Gradovich. If a mandatory defense is next for Gradovich in his third overall of the belt, this has the makings of a highly aesthetically pleasing war, almost guaranteed to go twelve blistering rounds. Miskirtchian has five years and fifty-three rounds of pro experience on Gradovich. Gradovich has three centimeters of height and probably a bit of reach on Miskirtchian. Both have a mere nine victories by knockout on their records - meaning half of Gradovich's matches and just a third of Miskirtchian's - but neither is a light touch and both can and do punch their guts out. Their ratios may be skewed by tough opposition...not that either is a destructive p4p smasher, but assuming they have no pop because of the mere nine stoppage for each is a mistake. Both also have proven to be incredibly durable, however, in spite of high-octane, busy styles that see both perfectly willing to eat a few punches coming forward to land a couple of their own - so I don't expect that either will stop the other unless the action becomes far more one-sided than expected. A look at recent form... Gradovich vs. Dib I: [yt]9qZHs3VLDH0[/yt] Gradovich vs. Dib II (highlights): [yt]8P_h2fnEP9w[/yt] Miskirtchian vs. Takoucht II: [yt]KErJelts_xw[/yt] [yt]--rP7BD6VvQ[/yt] [yt]fPqX8D9yK1I[/yt] [yt]21xrD6g4bIM[/yt] For some reason neither Miskirtchian vs. Takoucht I or Gradovich vs. Dib II are available on YT (or DailyMotion, or anywhere) at the moment. :conf
