Who wins? I got Gvozdyk. He's taller, longer, and younger. Beterbiev was dropped by Johnson, so Gvozdyk can definitely KO him.
Beterbiev would not hear the 5 round bell. He is kind of like chakiev, shaky chin and too aggressive.
50/50. Gvozdyk has the raw talent to rule the 175 division, but he still has a bad habit of mentally checking out midfight, which would be all a guy like Beterbiev would need to win.
Besides being dropped and hurt by Johnson, in his entire boxing career he has only been dropped one other time but wasnt hurt. The shot Johnson with was a weird and awkward looping punch with an uncommon trajectory angle and say what you want about Johnson, just lile Joe Smith, he fires hellfire missiles -- absolute murderous puncher. When he caught Beterbiev, AB didnt even see, acknowledge, or anticipate the shot(which packed a massive payload), and ya he got dropped and was clearly hurt. Maybe a handful of fighters at best in any weight class had the chin to take a shot like that and take it better than AB. I was actually impressed by the whole scenario, in AB's favor. Most guys would have been lit spark out before they hit the mat. AB got up, recovered incredibly quickly, and stormed forward the rest of the fight totally undeterred by Johnson's power even after catching that certified warhead. To compare him to Chakhiev is ridiculous IMO -- in regards to thwir chin and recovery ability. AB had a very long AM career fighting the best on the world even at HW and was never put down. If he can take that shot by Johnson and get up and walk him down like he was a straight victim, then nobody at LHW is putting him down and out. On dogs, Gvozdyk nor any other LHW for that matter is sending AB planking for the count. Gvozdyk also doesnt throw the type of punches that AB is vulnerable to, ie short looping hooks thrown from just outside the pocket. Hes always proven to take straight punches without even blinking. IMO Gvozdyk is the clearly superior boxer and has a clear to substantial edge in skills, athleticism, physical profile/dimensions(height/reach), footwork, and overall talent and ability. In terms of athletic, physical, and naturally talented gifts -- Gvozdyk is peerless at LHW. His flaws however, all seem to be intangible related and durability related but only against the absolute elite of the weight class. I rarely if ever see any urgency in him, he seems to lack aggression and more importantly a natural killer instinct, he has a tendency to drift a lot during fights and........ I dont know how to say it really, he doesnt necessarily take rounds off but whwn he should be hopping in and gunning it, instead he pumps the brakes. Gvozdyk's chin has proven to be much better than I anticipated and I'd say he has a good to very good chin, but I think AB's chin is better along with his overall durability. IMO Gvozdyk is the best LHW in the world, but stylistically I think AB is the absolute worst matchup for him in the world. AB and his style, and also his punch Arsenal, will take Gvozdyk's height(which has always been one of his strengths) and turn it into his downfall here. I very well could be wrong, I'll be real -- I AM wrong a lot, but I just see this playing out with AB coming forward and getting tagged repeatedly and outboxed clearly to badly in the first 4-5 rounds but after that I see AB finally getting inside position on Gvozdyk's preferred distance and touching him up with his power shots and he gets EXCELLENT leverage on those shots. I cant imagine Gvozdyk holding up to those for too long and if he doesnt aadapt, adjust, and overcome AB's surge, he's getting slept. If he can weather the storm and make the proper adjustments I think he goes on to give Beterbiev an embarrassing boxing lesson. I dont see him stopping AB besides on cuts or something like that, but if Gvozdyk UD's him, I think ot will be such a severe ass whooping that ruins AB for good and possibly ends his career. Gvozdyk has very heavy hands and is a rare case of a heavy handed power puncher who can sometimes punch with explosive power.
I totally agree, all the physical talent and abiliby you could dream about but intangible lacks that killer instinct and loses focus quite often and against a guy like Beterbiev that bodes as well as the ebola virus.
So as Gvozdyk... Both can improve, though. Gvozdyk already showed improvements in the Stevenson fight.
I think it’s because he was fighting cans and found it hard to stat motivated, didnt look like he lost his focus at any point vs Stevenson
I favour Gvozdyk slightly. It is entirely possible that Beterbiev might just get close and smash him as in their amateur fight though - as a fan of Gvozdyk Beterbiev's style and physical attributes would concern me the most (I for one would be confident against Kovalev, Alvarez, or even Bivol).
