A pound
of flesh.
That famous Shakespearean phrase from "The Merchant of
Venice" raced through my mind as I watched Artur Beterbiev's performance
against Oleksandr Gvozdyk from ringside on Friday. Sure, Gvozdyk scored points early in the
fight and may have gotten the better of individual exchanges, but in many of
those moments Beterbiev was still able to connect with a thudding right to the
body or a right over the top. Beterbiev did lose some early rounds;
however, he was unceasing in exacting his pound of flesh.
Beterbiev had bricks in his hands and a massive advantage in
punching power. In the ninth round Gvozdyk started to succumb to the body
assault, bending over from the waist, looking for any reason to clinch, hold or
delay the proceedings. By the tenth round, he couldn't withstand the onslaught
any further. Taking a knee three times in the round, he submitted. The weight
of all of those pounds of flesh had accumulated, and Beterbiev would exit the
Philadelphia night as a unified light heavyweight titlist and one of boxing's
supreme destructive forces.
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| Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank |
I'm not sure what more Gvozdyk could have done without having made
radical changes to his style. He boxed well at different stages of the fight.
He used angles and turned Beterbiev. He successfully limited Beterbiev's
offense throughout a lot of the first eight rounds. Perhaps Gvozdyk could
have thrown an uppercut more frequently. Beterbiev would bend his head forward after
connecting on counter shots; the uppercut was there for him. Maybe Gvozdyk could have played hit-and-run.
But to win the fight and not just survive, Gvozdyk had to hold his
ground and fight, even if doing so selectively. And although he's a solid puncher, and landed several of his best
rights during the match, his power just couldn't compare. Beterbiev's
missiles, even if they were sparse in number, had their desired impact.
Power is the great equalizer in boxing. Gvozdyk had greater hand
and foot speed. He possessed a more comprehensive arsenal of punches. He was a better
combination puncher. But ultimately it was power and not the myriad check marks
on a head-to-head comparison that proved to be the difference.
Don't let the "skills pay the bills" crowd off the hook.
Skills are nice, and often they are separators in title fights. But elite
skills don't guarantee victory. In the round-robin of boxing styles, no one
ring style consistently wins. And on Friday it was power that reigned
supreme.
This is not to suggest that Beterbiev is a one-dimensional crude
banger. Much of his work on Friday was a product of solid training and expert
execution. He landed short left hooks in between Gvozdyk's gloves because there
was a small gap in Gvozdyk's glove positioning; Beterbiev exploited that
opening. In addition, the right hand counters to the top of the head were
unfurled with little hesitation. It was clear that those particular punches had
been drilled into him leading up to the fight. Beterbiev and his team saw that
Gvozdyk took fractionally longer than needed to return his hands to a
defensively responsible position. Also, Beterbiev fired those right hands to
the body because they were available. He capitalized on that opportunity.
Let's also take a moment to credit Beterbiev for his chin and
conditioning. Gvozdyk connected with his best right hands in the third, fifth
and eighth rounds. They did affect Beterbiev, but not enough to knock him down,
or even make him revise his game plan. Beterbiev, who had previously been
dropped twice in his career, had no issues with his chin on Friday.
In addition, even in many of the rounds that Gvozdyk won, Beterbiev
was the fighter who closed more authoritatively in those frames. His overall performance in the fight was not just based on power. He was only able to execute his game plan
and withstand Gvozdyk's offensive firepower because he was in such fantastic
shape.
Beterbiev might not have done anything particularly flashy on
Friday, but he didn't need to. He stayed within himself. He didn't panic after failing to dominate the early portions of the fight. Like a seasoned
pro he paced himself and didn't burn himself out trying to force a knockout.
Artur deserves further credit for putting forth that type of
performance against the best opponent of his career. Gvozdyk is no
Enrico Koelling. He's one of the best at light heavyweight and presented
Beterbiev with a series of problems early in the fight. And in Beterbiev's
previous 14 bouts, he had rarely been tested, especially in the second half of
a match. (In fact, Friday's fight was only the second time Beterbiev had to go
past seven rounds.)
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| Photo Courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank |
There sometimes exists a tendency in boxing for fighters and their
trainers to overthink a game plan when preparing for a big fight, to change
what had worked previously. Beterbiev never had faced an opponent with
Gvozdyk's versatility and skill level. Yet Beterbiev and head trainer Marc
Ramsay went the other way in their fight preparation. They further simplified
the game plan: Take what's available, focus
on two or three specific types of shots, and trust the power.
Ramsay has helped to engineer a number of huge wins at light
heavyweight, such as Jean Pascal over Chad Dawson, Eleider Alvarez against
Sergey Kovalev and now Beterbiev’s performance over Gvozdyk. He has an acute
understanding of opponents and uses their fighting styles against them. He
studied Dawson's passivity, Kovalev's problems with his gas tank and Gvozdyk's
predilection for combination punching. Each of these opponents presented unique
problems and opportunities, and like a grand chess master Ramsay figured out how to
exploit weaknesses, or even perceived strengths.
Ultimately Beterbiev and Ramsay used Gvozdyk's strengths against
him. Yes, Oleksandr would land flashy three-punch combinations, but those
moments also provided opportunities for Beterbiev to counter with something
big. Gvozdyk's trainer, Teddy Atlas, noted in the lead up to the fight that
they can't be too greedy, that giving a puncher too many opportunities was a
problem. And perhaps in hindsight Gvozdyk may have fallen victim to this just a
little too often.
Gvozdyk mostly fought his fight, in the style in which he was
accustomed to. He was up on two of the cards prior to the 10th round (I also
had him up one point at that juncture). To win Saturday's match perhaps he
needed to fight in a radically different manner. Perhaps one shot and get out
of the pocket. Maybe back-footing Beterbiev with pot-shots. However, those
adjustments would have involved massive changes, which may have caused even
greater problems for a fighter not used to that style. Gvozdyk competed on
Friday, he performed well. He was just bettered.
Beterbiev now emerges as the top fighter at light heavyweight and
I'm not sure too many top guys in the division will be rushing to face that
version of hell. On one hand he's at the advanced age of 34, but consider that
he's only had 15 pro fights and so few opponents have been able to push him. He certainly
could have a few years at the top of the division.
But whatever happens throughout the rest of his career, and even if he's
unable to land another unification match at 175 lbs., the boxing world now fully
grasps his devastating dimensions. He's a problem, a killer. He's destruction incarnate. And he waits for the
next brave man.
Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.
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