I think Gvozdyk cherrypick will backfire

Benavidez said that Gvozdyk has no power and that Bivol has one of the hardest right hands he's ever felt. He also says GGG is by far the hardest puncher he's ever shared a ring with. Obviously GGG is a career MW and Benavidez, Gvozdyk and Bivol are much bigger than him

Gvozdyk is clearly a big puncher and other fighters who've sparred him attest to this.

And you can clearly see that this version of Gvozdyk is not the same as the prime one

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Pita Garcia says Gvozdyk's probably the hardest puncher they've had in the gym (Robert Garcia used to train Gvozdyk). I know that they generally have smaller weight fighters in their gym but they have heavier weight ones too.

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I've been arguing for years that Bivol can punch and that his power is underrated but the general consensus is that he isn't a puncher

Gvozdyk has knocked out numerous fighters who would've likely taken Bivol the distance

Benavidez saying Gvozdyk has no power and that Bivol has one of the hardest right hands he's ever felt just doesn't make sense

Gvozdyk clearly varies his power too. He'll throw a lot of lighter or mid power shots and then sit down on his shots and sneak in a full power one or sequence of them. But Bivol does the same only with seemingly less power than Gvozdyk when he sits down on his shots

As for size. Benavidez is at worst the same size as Gvozdyk. He weighed as much at 168 as Gvozdyk did at LHW and if Gvozdyk is coming in heavier now than he used to well that will be equalled out by Benavidez coming in heavier at LHW than he was at 168

They'll probably weigh about the same but I won't be surprised if Benavidez weighs more or even significantly more given how he reputedly weighed 195 in the ring for the Angulo fight which is a lot heavier than the weight he says he usually comes in at.

He missed weight for that fight so it was technically a fight between a LHW and a SMW. 195 is a lot heavier than what Gvozdyk comes in at or used to come in at. I'd be very surprised if Gvozdyk comes in anywhere near that even now.

 

So Gvozdyk says here that he's probably going to weigh 190 in the ring. That's about 5-6lbs heavier than he was coming in at back in his prime

These weights are from 2016

Gvozdyk 185 - Gonzalez 185

Gvozdyk 184 - Chilemba 181

Benavidez said he rehydrates 17lbs at 168, so 185lbs. He's moved up to LHW and is very likely going to be heavier at the new weight. It could be 5lbs or it could be more or significantly more than that but I think it will be that much bare minimum. Gvozdyk thinks Benavidez will be heavier than him

Gvozdyk is one of the most humble and refreshingly honest fighters in the sport.

Benavidez is also a gentleman outside of the ring but he's got a real evil ruthless streak in him in the ring and if you disrespect him it will show itself outside of the ring too

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My analogy is absurd and idiotic which is completely in line with this line of reasoning from the naysayers of this fight. Gvozdyk has had three fights since coming out of his semi retirement. He's shook the rust off, it's a fair fight. He got beat up when he was jetlagged and just starting his camp, while Benavidez was in the middle of his, raring to go, in tip top shape, looking to prove himself to an older fighter. There's an element of surprise even in sparring, like most fights people go into blind. There will be no surprise this time, both men have had full camps are totally focused on fighting one another, and they're obsessing on each other's styles, and how they can capitalize on one another's flaws. Gvozdyk is a very smart fighter and will give David the hardest fight of his career. Does David and his team think it's a cherry pick? Sure they do. But there's been plenty of times where cherry picks have blown up in people's faces. This will most likely be one of those times. So cheer up, Gvozdyk is not here to lay down.

 

I get your concerns, it's hard not to feel that way with PBC cards, but Gvozdyk has always struck me as a stand-up guy who's unwilling to take a dive. I think he's either going to fight his heart out and get stopped if he's shot beyond belief. Or destroy Benavidez with relative ease if he's not. The last thing to go is power, and David is very easy to hit. As far as the sparring stories go, like many sparring stories, they've been around for a while, it's nothing new. Gvozdyk was just discussing them honestly, no big deal.

 

His ring weights have been listed a few times and they were about that amount. But I think he used to be heavier but slimmed down a bit and got more muscular. This is what suspect from my observations. Either way, he's massive and will be a huge LHW too.

 

Possibly. These tall lanky fighters can blow way up in weight after the weigh in or when they move up in weight and still look skinny. There's some kind of sorcery at play.

Gvozdyk and Benavidez are the same height and Gvozdyk even has an inch longer reach than him but Benavidez is the one who looks longer and taller even though he isn't. Gvozdyk looks tall and kind of slim but he doesn't look lanky and I think Benavidez weighs more than him