Artur Beterbiev-Oleksandr Gvozdyk/175 WBC-IBF Unification/ESPN/Friday

[Fenster]

Great fight, under the radar for obvious reasons. Bookies can't split them (basically even money the pair).

Both can bang and both been decked. Gvozdyk (17-0, 14 KOs) is the better boxer, Beterbiev (14-0, 14 KOs) is a Terminator. Gvozdyk has fought stronger opposition, however, Beterbiev has a stronger beard and a stoppage victory over Gvoz in the amateurs (TKO 2, bloody/busted nose).

Along with Prograis-Taylor this is the best divisional matchup of the year.

((How many here have even heard of them, let alone will watch? ))

[TitoFan]

I'll be watching. Just not the live streaming service, but the broadcast later on ESPN.

Thanks for alerting me though, so I can avoid the forum before then and get that "live" feel.

[Fenster]

Serious question? So they repeat all ESPN+ streamed fights on the main TV service? Or does it depend on the region?

[TitoFan]

Serious question? So they repeat all ESPN+ streamed fights on the main TV service? Or does it depend on the region?

That's actually a good question and one I'm asking myself. I watch ESPN fights fairly regularly (HBO Boxing sadly is no longer around).... and I hadn't given much thought to ESPN+. Where I live (Eastern Time) it seems like a 4-hour difference, at least on this particular card. Folks on the West Coast I imagine right now have a 1-hour difference, and I gotta wonder how it works for them.

Looking at the ESPN Friday Night Fight schedule link below...

http://fightnights.com/espn-friday-night-fights

.... it looks like most upcoming Friday night fights are either on ESPN or ESPN+, not both. Not sure how this works, but it looks rather cumbersome.


Frankly, I'd lose interest in watching a televised fight if I already knew the result by hearing about it from those who watched the live streaming service.

[Master]

What a brilliant fight but no UK TV showing this?

[powerpuncher]

The main event is only on ESPN and not ESPN+ as far as a see.

I have been looking forward to this fight for a while. I think that the winner becomes #1 in the division and the guy beat. My prediction is still the same as it has been since the fight was first signed. I think that Gvozdyk knocks him out because Beterbiev tends to get a bit wreckless.

With that said, it’s a very close contest and I am not at all confident with my prediction.

[Ron Swanson]

Been a long wait for Beterbiev to be healthy/step up. Eager to see how he does under the brighter lights.

[Kirkland Laing]

Has anybody's iptv got back to normal yet? Mine used to have ESPN plus and DAZN but since it all went down is now just Sky channels and a few stragglers. Luckily the fights have been on Sky the last two weeks. Will swap for a new iptv source if there's one back with all the channels. Anybody know one?

[Master]

Oleksandr Gvozdyk, boxing's best kept secret, added more bite to his game thanks to Teddy Atlas

In Teddy Atlas’ world, Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk has the talent to be a shark, but if the budding Ukrainian star wanted to fulfill his vast potential as a boxer, Atlas felt he needed at times to instead be content as a piranha.

And since Atlas, the Hall of Fame trainer who is extremely particular about who he’ll work with, began to train Gvozdyk, well, it’s a lot harder to hit “The Nail” on the head.

Gvozdyk, the unbeaten WBC light heavyweight champion, has what in most cases would be regarded as a super fight on Friday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Philadelphia, when he takes on knockout artist Artur Beterbiev, the unbeaten IBF champion, in a unification bout.

The bout isn’t getting a lot of hype because despite their immense talents — Gvozdyk is 17-0 with 14 KOs and Beterbiev is 14-0 with 14 KOs — because fighters from Ukraine and Russia generally don’t become massive stars in the U.S.

But promoter Bob Arum isn’t wrong when he says, “On paper, this is without question one of the best fights of the year.”

Gvozdyk won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics, but needed Atlas’ assistance to really live up to his billing as a pro. Gvozdyk reached out to Atlas before he was to challenge Adonis Stevenson for the belt on Dec. 1 in Quebec City.

Atlas knew Gvozdyk’s talent was first-rate, but he needed to be comfortable both with the type of person Gvozdyk is and with his coachability before beginning to train him. Stevenson, Atlas knew, would be a massive challenge.

“There was no room in that particular fight for mistakes, because Adonis is one of the best punchers I’ve ever seen in this sport with one punch, that left hand,” Atlas said. “He’s that good.”

After spending a few days together and going through a workout, Atlas agreed to take on Gvozdyk. Gvozdyk is an exceptionally intelligent man who speaks three languages, including English, fluently. He speaks English so well that if you didn’t know he was from Ukraine and grew up speaking Russian you’d assume he was a native English speaker.

He knew of Atlas’ reputation and felt he could use the finishing touches that a master craftsman like Atlas could provide.

“Teddy is a great teacher, a great trainer and a great man,” Gvozdyk said. “It’s been a blessing to work with him. He’s one of the best, if not the best, and he is very aware of everything, from the big-picture things to the smallest details.



“Sometimes in boxing, and I was doing it for 20 years, you maybe reach a dead end. I had a good team, but I needed something else, something different. And just listening to Teddy commentate on fights, I knew he saw it differently than a lot of trainers.”

The thing that Atlas preached with Gvozdyk was timing; specifically, the timing of when to throw specific punches. It’s one thing for a boxer to be aggressive and let his hands go, but if he throws the punches at the wrong time, he opens himself up and could be in trouble.

Given Atlas’ respect for Stevenson’s punching power, that was a focus in that camp as they prepared to fight for the title.



Gvozdyk fully bought into Atlas’ lessons. He made one mistake, firing a jab when he shouldn’t have, and Stevenson hit him and hurt him.

But otherwise, Atlas felt Gvozdyk was flawless, and he was able to content himself with being a piranha instead of the feared shark.

“The whole theme of that camp was ‘take small bites. Take little bites all night long until you see you can take some more,’ ” Atlas said. “The thing is, if you’re taking small bites all night, hopefully in the later rounds, you can do something else. I told him, ‘We’re going to be like a piranha, not a shark. Be content with taking little pieces, because if you do that consistently, there will come a time in the fight when it’s appropriate to be the shark and then you can go for the big bite.’ And that’s what happened.”

Gvozdyk stopped Stevenson in the 11th with one of those shark attacks, a multi-punch combination that ended the fight and sent Stevenson to the hospital. Fortunately, he recovered and is at home.

Gvozdyk has moved on and is one of the best-kept secrets in boxing. His goal is to be undisputed champion in a deep division that is perhaps boxing’s best and in its best shape since the 1970s and 1980s when legendary 175-pounders like Michael Spinks, Victor Galindez, Mike Rossman, Marvin Johnson, Yaqui Lopez, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Jerry Martin and many others plied their trade.

In Beterbiev, he’ll face a power-punching opponent who stopped him in an amateur bout.

He believes a win over Beterbiev could be a star-marking performance.

“It’s a blessing to be in a division like this,” Gvozdyk said. “There are a lot of good boxers and so you have a lot of opportunities to prove yourself. Sometimes a world champion is in a division where there aren’t a lot of opponents and even though he is very good, no one gives him the respect because they don’t think the division is talented.

“But in this division, there are a lot of great opponents to fight and [Beterbiev] is definitely one of them. That’s why I wanted to take this fight.”

And while WBA champion Dmitry Bivol is extremely impressive, he hasn’t been facing the top opposition. That’s why Atlas believes the Gvozdyk-Beterbiev winner will be the world’s No. 1 light heavyweight.

You fight the best and you deserve the spoils that come with those kinds of wins.

“This is a risk for both of them and so if you take that risk and go ahead with the fight, when you win, you deserve the reward of being regarded [as the best in the division],” Atlas said. “These guys are special and they have that kind of ability.”

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/ole...185046754.html

[TIC]

can't wait for this one. picking gvozdyk, but far from confident

[holmcall]

Styles

The 6’0” Beterbiev’s style is one of a stalking aggressor and he is especially dangerous when his opponent engages him in a heated exchange as that allows him to land one of his heavy-handed bombs. To use an old cliché, Artur has “bricks in his fists.” He also is dangerous when he is stunned as Callum Johnson discovered.

Some say Beterbiev’s chin is a question mark but his style allows an opponent to nail him (no pun intended) as he moves in. That may well be more a function of his go-forward movement than it is any weakness in his chin.

Conversely, The Nail is a very accurate and powerful puncher and is technically (and defensively) more sound than the bludgeoning Russian. He uses a super-fast jab and counters with sharp stuff. This 6’2” slickster combines exceptional speed and deceptive power. He is patient, relaxed, and fluid.

Intangibles

Has Gvozdyk’s psyche been altered by the events of his December 2018 fight with Adonis Stevenson wherein Adonis (thankfully now recovering) was severely injured? While The Nail was somewhat stymied by his last opponent, Doudou Ngumbu, my thinking here is that that had more to do with Ngumbu’s awkwardness than anything else---and that the Stevenson matter is mostly in the past. In short, the Nail’s focus on Friday should be right where it should be.

With a KO percentage of 100%, Beterbiev has answered the bell for very few rounds, only 52 to be exact. This could weigh against him.

Prediction: Gvozdyk’s superior boxing skills should begin to bear fruit in the mid to late rounds when a frustrated Beterbiev is forced to take risks for which he will pay dearly. I see “The Nail” winning by late stoppage or by UD.

[palmerq]

I'll have five Canadian quids on the nail, he can bugger aff if he wants his name spelt right, I've never been a big fan of beterbiev, he had a lot of hype a few years ago, I think due to beating kovalev in the amateurs and kovalev was still seen as a top guy as to compared to how he is currently (maybe suspiciously) rated right now.. Hes clearly a monster with a good punch output and very powerful, puts the punches together well too but he lacks defence and gets a bit static with his feet when on the assault.... So I'm going for the Ukrainian, beterbiev could also take his head off but I think old nail is good enough to avoid his onslaught and start beating him down.

[Master]

I am going for Beterbiev because I have always believed he was the best fighter at the weight. Now is his chance to prove it and get a big fight against Canelo.

[Alpha]

Beterbiev had a long camp, this could be brutal. Gvozdyk's chin has shown signs of vulnerability but I think he leaves with both belts tonight.

[Spicoli]

I like Gvozdyk over the distance but thinking strength and pressure of Beterbiev could be huge factor. Then again he's shown patience and timely acceleration as of late. Be a mistake for him to fancy himself a patient boxer here though. Actually the type of fight we very much need more of, two of the best unifying..and it's in Philly! Really all you can ask for as a fight fan.

That and that it's not delayed on regular cable by College Football .