In the end, it was the overwhelming strength and thudding power of Beterbiev that ground down "the Nail" and stopped him in the tenth round as referee Gary Rosato waved the fight off after the final of three knockdowns in the round.
The fight was still close on the scorecards as two of the judges had Gvozdyk ahead, one by three points and the other by a point, with the other scoring Beterbiev ahead by one point.
I had Beterbiev ahead by three points (6-3 in rounds), but almost every round except the ninth could have been given to either fighter and I wouldn't take issue with any scorecard.
Beterbiev rocked Gvozdyk several times throughout the fight, but Gvozdyk had his share of moments as well, as Gvozdyk had excellent rounds in the sixth and eighth.
The eighth was Gvozdyk's final push as he seemed to be giving ground to the persistent pressure of Beterbiev and near the end of the ninth, Beterbiev landed a big right that seemed to puncture whatever remained of Gvozdyk's will and as Gvozdyk came out of his corner, he resembled a fighter that knew he didn't have enough to hold off Beterbiev.
Gvozdyk gamely tried, but his legs were gone and three knockdowns caused by several crushing right hands ended the fight.
For Beterbiev, the next time out isn't one that will be thrilling any fans as he fights his IBF mandatory against undefeated and unknown Meng Fanglong of China.
Fanglong won an eliminator against Germany's Adam Deines via unanimous decision to earn the title shot, but Deines hadn't defeated anyone of note either and Deines knocked Fanglong down in their fight, so it's unlikely that the former Olympian would be able to handle the power of Beterbiev.
Bob Arum said that fight would likely be held in China in January to move that obligation out of the way for what is hoped to be another unification fight with WBA champion Dmitry Bivol to give the winner three of the four titles in the spring or summer.
Bivol is a promotional free agent, so if Bivol wants that fight, he'll be able to make it.
The WBO title will be the hardest title to win as champion Sergey Kovalev is required to fight a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, should he defeat him in their fight in two weeks and should Canelo win that fight, he would be extremely (You can even capitalize if you like) unlikely to face Beterbiev.
I've been on the Beterbiev bandwagon for five years after a blazing start to his career, but he was hampered by promotional issues ( mainly that his promoter Yvon Michel, who was associated with PBC, and Al Haymon didn't want their guy Adonis Stevenson to have to defend his title against Beterbiev, so they put Beterbiev on ice) until finally getting clear to move to Top Rank.
Beterbiev might be the biggest puncher in the game, only Deontay Wilder gives him a run for the money for that title, and his punishing, grinding style demands that you make a choice- stand and fight and take your chances with his power, try to box and pray you are durable enough to last twelve rounds of pain as you are pursued.
For Gvozdyk, his career isn't over after one loss and there are plenty of top fighters in the division with Top Rank for Gvozdyk to return to the top as he could fight Gilberto Ramirez, Eleider Alvarez, Jesse Hart, or even Sergei Kovalev, depending on the result of Kovalev's fight with Canelo Alvarez.
The biggest question will be can Gvozdyk recover from a loss that saw him beaten, time will tell if it has broken him.
The co-feature saw Kudratillo Abdukakhorov win a unanimous decision over Luis Collazo after the fight was stopped with under a minute remaining in the tenth round after heads collided and caused a huge cut over the left eye of Collazo, who was seriously dazed by the impact.
It wasn't a great bout, but I had Abdukakhorov the clear winner 98-92 in what will officially be a technical decision.
Abdukakhorov entered the bout as the mandatory contender for WBC/IBF champion Errol Spence for the IBF and risked that status in fighting the veteran Collazo, which he should be applauded for gambling the title fight so they can stay sharp and give himself the best chance to win that fight.
Not enough fighters do that and when they finally have the opportunity to fight for the championship, they haven't given themselves the best chance to win it.
In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica five to two, with the difference earning three points from the Artur Beterbiev victory to push my lead to 249-215.
No comments:
Post a Comment