The good Roy Jones fought for some time as a light-heavyweight, and simply think about the prime RJ in opposition to both of the 2 greatest 175 pounders on the market at this time, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol; the Jones, for instance, who confirmed such ruthless effectivity in taking out the achieved and expert Montell Griffin of their rematch. Think about how severely Jones would have examined the 2 trendy kings. However so far as who will come out on prime on October 12, when Bivol and Beterbiev meet for all 4 world titles in Riyadh, Jones has had some attention-grabbing issues to say concerning the upcoming combat.
Talking with Discuss Sport, the one-time “Superman” recommended how large puncher Beterbiev, 20-0(20), might need a weak spot that Jones says is frequent amongst massive punchers: Beterbiev doesn’t take as nice a shot as he offers. Beterbiev, Jones mentioned, has been down a number of occasions, and this has led the previous multi-weight champion to surprise “if he takes punch.”
“As a result of Beterbiev is a puncher, if he can hit Bivol he’ll knock him out for certain. As a result of to me, Beterbiev is among the greatest pound-for-pound punchers this sport has ever seen. If he can harm Bivol together with his punches if he can catch him, then he has an opportunity,” Jones mentioned. “However what individuals fail to appreciate is Beterbiev has been down three or 4 occasions already. That’s often the weak spot of the robust punchers, they don’t take nearly as good as they hit. So when there’s an outstanding puncher, like Julian Jackson, Gerald McClellan took him out, Mike McCallum took him out. He [Jackson] was a big-time puncher, however these guys don’t beat him on determination – they knock him out. As a result of he offers punch, however he doesn’t take one of the best punch. In case you’ve been down that a lot in twenty fights, there’s an issue there.”
Fascinating stuff from Jones. There’s nothing to make an individual assume Beterbiev is in any method ‘chinny,’ but the Russian banger has certainly been dropped, whereas Bivol has by no means been down. Jones, although, is improper when he says Beterbiev has been down “three or 4 occasions.” Beterbiev has truly been dropped, briefly on each events, twice. Jeff Web page Jr scored a flash knockdown over Beterbiev in 2014, this within the first spherical, whereas Callum Johnson decked Beterbiev in spherical two of their 2018 combat. On each events, Beterbiev jumped up rapidly and took care of enterprise, with him stopping each Web page Jr and Johnson. However may Bivol, 23-0(12) be capable of harm Beterbiev together with his sharp, correct pictures, this if he can land them incessantly? Jones is choosing Bivol to win, and everybody sees this combat as a traditional boxer vs. puncher showdown. We all know Beterbiev is the puncher, however can Bivol additionally land some harm? It will be fairly a shock if Bivol KO’d or stopped Beterbiev, however Roy Jones, for one, wouldn’t be shocked by such a outcome.
Would YOU be shocked to see Bivol rating a KO win on October 12?
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Undefeated Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol meet in 9 days to combat for the undisputed gentle heavyweight championship on October twelfth in Riyadh. The winner of this combat will maintain all 4 belts at 175 and will probably be acknowledged as one of the best fighter within the division.
Roy Jr. believes IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) can win if he can catch WBA champ Bivol (23-0,12 KOs). That’s going to be the difficult half for the 39-year-old Beterbiev as a result of the elusive Bivol goes to be boxing him, attempting to not get hit.
Jones notes that Beterbiev has been knocked down a few occasions in his profession, and he suspects that he’s bought a chin drawback. He feels that Beterbiev would have been dropped if he hadn’t had some type of difficulty together with his punch resistance. Nevertheless, the query is whether or not Bivol will combat aggressively sufficient to check Beterbiev’s chin. He’s not going to knock Beterbiev out or drop him with considered one of his jabs or rapid-fire one-two combos. That’s not taking place.
Bivol knocked out his final opponent, little-known Malik Zinad, however he was a random fighter pulled in for a exhibit the road. It’s unclear if he was chosen by His Excellency Turki Alalshik himself or what, however the man didn’t belong preventing for a world title. Earlier than that combat, Bivol hadn’t knocked out anybody for six years since March 2018, when he stopped Sullivan Barrera within the twelfth spherical.
Beterbiev has been knocked down twice throughout his profession. The primary was a flash knockdown by Jeff Web page Jr. in 2014, and the second was in opposition to Callum Johnson in 2018. He was surprised by Johnson, getting knocked down within the third, however got here again to cease him within the fourth.
