Kyatoro Fujimoto is the reserve opponent for Povetkin if Hammer pulls out.

Fujimoto might whoop him.

 

Whoops, you're right, just went off a quick glance at his Wiki page and misread the stoppage W's value...

Damn, that's crazy. He never got stopped in kickboxing? I mean, rationally I'm looking at his record and know that it actually is true, but - I remember following him in that sport and frequently shaking my head at how easily he got hit for a guy with such a shaky chin.

 

Yes, the guy that got a gift over Nobuhiro Ishida might whoop the number 2 or 3 heavyweight in the world.

 

Manhoef buzzed him if I recall correctly but his own shaky chin let him down. Mousasi floored him a couple of times and nearly stopped him.

 

Semmy put a hurt on him too.

 

Yep, the same guy who ducked Wlad for the IBF and Wilder for the WBC. The same guy who stays relevant on champion's leftovers. The one whose best wins are guys who can't seem to win any high profile fight. The guy who is so fearless in twelve years of boxing he's taken two 0's. The decade long top ten rank gatekeeper who managed to fight none of the champions or challengers who debut well after him and fought or won a major title super seceding his own **** "regular" title. The amazing fighter who hugged it out with Wlad for the huggiest HW championship match in human history including eras when wrestling maneuvers like the cross-buttocks were legal. The amazing world class fighter who shows he's not scared of fighting outside of Russia by fighting in Germany. At this point this list of reasons to not give a **** about Pussvetkin is plenty long so I don't really need to mention, but it should be mentioned, the pugilistic genius whose whole career was brought into question by multiple failed drugs tests.

Yes, Fujimoto, gift over Ishida and all, might whoop that guy.

I've been watching Kyotaro since his K-1 days. He's struggled to adjust to boxing, but that only makes him a bad boxer not a bad fighter. Povetkin isn't exactly a beacon of technicality at HW himself. His movement and punch structure are beautiful, his footwork is adequate, his defense is pretty good, and he's got nice reflexes, but none of that means dick if you can't work the gap and you're fighting a fighter who can. There's plenty of opportunity for Pov to win, he is the bigger, faster, stronger, more technical, veteran boxer, but Kyotaro's got him both on gap control and in the clinch. That might be enough for the Japanese Champion to whoop the former WBA Regular. Wlad had a lot more tools he could use, but he never brings out anything more unless he's forced to. Pov being hugged out is all Wlad had to dip into. It was Pov's fault like Pac-Money being slow was Pac's fault. The worst you can say about the defensive fighter is he didn't take needless risks. Pov and Pac both showed us a limit to their adaptability and Pov's not shown diddles for evidence anything would be different if someone else worked gap and clinch.

 

Halfway through that first paragraph I thought you started talking about Wilder.

 

Povetkin's easiest fight would be against Wilder!

 

So why when people put shade on Wilder for that don't they shame Pov for doing the same for longer and for less reward?

Yer referring to title fighters who didn't have to see either before fighting for a title right?

 

Eh. This sounds a lot like echoes of the arguments for McGregor (in his prime) beating Mayweather (in his twilight and emerging from like his fifteenth retirement/lengthy sabbatical), which he realistically didnt even come close to doing.

"Sure he might be a novice in boxing with comparatively very poor technical skills but gosh darn it he's a world class fighter in another sport, and has XYZ intangibles!"

Didn't quite pan out last time.

 

fujimoto is a bum. his best Opponent so far was a blown up japanes MIDDLEWEIGHT (YES middleweight) and he almost got beat by him.

if you want proof that professional boxing Rankings are a big pile of pathetic ****........take fujimotos number 7 wbo ranking.
nuff said.

 

lol.. Jab , hug , clinch is his entire skill-set. You saw that when Fury stripped him bare. Where was his plan B then?

If he used more tools against Povetkin he would've actually boxed in that fight , but boxing was way too risky for him against a guy he knew could easily close the gap on him. Luckily for him he was allowed win in the same way Akawandy lost to Lewis ..

 

He was decent in kickboxing, I'll give him that. Average chin and leaky defense but he found a way to beat a handful of solid names. I'd say he was a B+ fighter in his prime.

Since crossing over, though, I've never seen anything to suggest he's better than C in this discipline.

 

the bottom line: kickboxers are pathetic Boxers.

 

Except maybe Vitali, but that is more to do with him being a superlative athletic specimen.