After watching the last match, I definitely felt that he has slowed down and doesn’t resemble his prime self. Age and knee surgery have probably taken their toll.he would have been more than capable of knocking out Bivol in his prime.
He would, if there was 15 rounds. you could see how out of the energy was Bivol in the last 3 rounds. In the rematch(if happens) I think he can do that.
Well what happened in real life, is they fought at a time when both were at the top of the division, and Beterbiev barely won a controversial decision, and didn’t come close to stopping him at any point. You can assume all you want to make your hero sound good in your head, but you have no idea how his knees are feeling or how his age impacted him. Did they impact him more than simply fighting the best opponent he’s ever been in the ring with as a professional? How do you know Bivol isn’t being affected by things that cause him not to be at his best? The Beterbiev nut swinging on this forum is crazy.
It's probably the most likely scenario, but also possible is a prime Beterbiev might have been less cautious, more reckless and got clipped with something bad because he made more mistakes. Bivol did give him pause on occasion, and I think Beterbiev fared well in the championship rounds because he fought more cautiously and measured.
Nut swinging? Beterbiev? He's not even a household name lol. If it weren't for all the belts it wouldn't even have been a big event. This is the purest discussion a fight has ever had in my whole time on the forum. Interestingly enough, I thought he'd stop Bivol in his prime before they fought, after seeing the fight now I don't think that's the case. Obviously he'd perform better, but I don't think he stops him.
Beterbiev has maybe 5 hardcore super loyal fans on this entire forum. I am one of them. The guy isn't a household name. Isn't a big draw. Nobody cares that much about Artur Beterbiev outside hardcore boxing fans.
Bivol had Beterbiev on ***** street in round 7. If Beterbiev was a bit more reckless then it would definitely have been possible for Bivol to take him out.
He's always been a high guard measured fighter. He never was a super wreckless face first brawler. He is an intelligent fighter with 300 amateur fights. Beterbiev is much slower of hand and foot than he used to be. In his prime he was noticeably quicker. Prime Beterbiev stops Bivol. Look at how much better he moves when he was a younger fighter. This content is protected
Assumptions. I have seen fighters look in far far worse shape than Bivol did in the last rounds and not be stopped for several rounds even though their opponent is hitting them more often than Beterbiev was hitting him. Hell, Beterbiev barely won round 12. I almost gave it to Bivol. I don't care if your opponent is gasping for air, if he landed on you ans you are still landing on gloves, you aren't winning the round. Still, I think I gave it to him on volume.
Can we just have one thread for all of you “hardcore super loyal fans”? Maybe you could even filter out Beterbiev fans who don’t meet all three criteria! Imagine the conversations you could have, he KOs Bivol at the staredown if the fight was at the right time, Roy Jones’ name can be banned from being mentioned in the thread since im hearing it’s crazy for them to be compared, his resume is better than Canelo’s, and you can discuss how he’d perform against as many ATG heavyweights as you want - he may even win some of those fantasy match ups in this proposed thread. Edit: I know I’m being hard on you guys, but o do want to reiterate, I have great respect for Beterbiev and think he’s a great fighter.
