Dorticos vs Gassiev - Saturday 3rd February

[Queen B]

Great documentary. Its a shame with all this budget no USA TV deal

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

Is this one on youtube at this point?

 

[Valhoven]

I was really impressed by Gassiev honestly. He reminded me of Canelo in a lot of ways. We saw a lot to him: hand parrying, some slick upper body movement, combination punching, mixing up the targets by switching between head shots and body shots, good conditioning, pull counters, chin, timing, and of course power and stamina. I'd like to see a more active jab and I feel he's a little slow on his feet, but otherwise, Gassiev is going to be a serious threat at 200 and even at HW.

What to your thinking will be key in preparing for Oleksandr with the above in mind?

 

[ironfist05]

What to your thinking will be key in preparing for Oleksandr with the above in mind?

I think cutting off the ring and taking away Usyk's space will be essential. Usyk tends to brawl sometimes, but he's also fairly slick and is good at using his footwork to angle out of nasty situations. I think pushing forward an inside fighting game will be important too, Usyk diesn't seem particularly good there. The first few rounds are going to be where Gassiev makes or breaks his fight with Usyk, because Usyk tends ot be a slow starter. IMO Gassiev is going to need to up the activity on his lead hand too, or Usyk will outpoint him behind his jab and volume.

 

[BluntTrauma21]

Nice. I timestamped it starting with Dorticos feeling down to Gassiev giving him back his (already earned) WBA world championship title. Dorticos is allowed to keep the belt anyway and it has his name on it. Gassiev will get his own from the WBA now. Still, it was a classy move by Gassiev. They got a picture together with the Cuban flag and one guy goes "That's how boxing should be". Damn near brought me to tears. Who's cutting the onions? Brb...

Not gonna lie I got in my feels a bit. Great fight, great fighters. Real fighters. I didn't know Russians had feelings. Gassiev seems like a good dude.

 

[borntoloseNOT]

This fight made me a fan of Gassiev, I admit I didn't know much about him before, but his skillset was on display that night, and he was definitely the one conserving himself and delivering the most punishing work. Dorticos was a warrior and deserves all the post fight respect, but Gassiev boxes the way that makes me see a more complete fighter, a fighter who is prepared to break you down all the way into the 12th if it goes there, he wasn't panicked under Dorticos pressure in the beginning, and he didn't allow himself to be rushed.

Dorticos didn't adjust very much, I guess his precision 1-2 has carried him through often enough that he hasn't felt much need to change along the way? Well, good fight, both guys. Other semi was good too, let's see the final.

Not educated enough on the CWs to call the fights, but looks like a very competitive final to me.

 

[Valhoven]

I think cutting off the ring and taking away Usyk's space will be essential. Usyk tends to brawl sometimes, but he's also fairly slick and is good at using his footwork to angle out of nasty situations. I think pushing forward an inside fighting game will be important too, Usyk diesn't seem particularly good there. The first few rounds are going to be where Gassiev makes or breaks his fight with Usyk, because Usyk tends ot be a slow starter. IMO Gassiev is going to need to up the activity on his lead hand too, or Usyk will outpoint him behind his jab and volume.

Nice. I haven't the boxing eye you do but my initial thoughts on the squaring was Gassiev's toolbox against a southpaw and what his experience is there – this tying in with ring control and such as I've noticed Usyk has agile escapes and even throws while slipping away.

Have seen many favouring Usyk without afterthought but I find myself rooting more and more for Gass come May. Very likeable man. Usyk looked rather hittable against Briedis so you nailed it for me – Gass need land early and be unpredictable or active enough not to let Usyk get too comfortable. It'll probably be hotter than sin if they're fighting summertime in, if I recall, the Middle East. A/C or no, it might boil down rather classically to whose conditioning is superior.

If I understand right that Ring's vacancy for the belt at cruiser is because of Yoel Romero's brother having retired while holding, how would Oleksandr and Murat have fared against Yoan skills-wise?

 

[Boxer]

So impressed with Gaissev.

Dorticos was undefeated a KO specialist and real challenge, did you guys see what Dorticos did to the "Russian hammer" in his last WSS fight?

Murat was so impressive because he obviosuly for the first 5 rounds was wary of Dorticos right hand, and stayed back and worked his way into the fight.
Which is impressive because Gassiev's natural instinct is to come forward.

Eventually in the 6th round he turned the momentum of the fight and started hunting Dorticos.

Dorticos had a great chin but the 12th round finish was brutal.

Gassiev has become one of my favorite fighters, hard as nails, proper throw back.

 

[DeJulez]

Gassiev says hes going to HW after the Usyk fight.
I don't know about that

 

[Boxer]

Gassiev says hes going to HW after the Usyk fight.
I don't know about that

I was thinking exactly the same, don't get me wrong, if he beats Usyk I have Gassiev down as one of the best in the world, right up there, the mans a killer ............

But two things.

One - He's IBF champ so they do two weigh ins, day before in public then on same day which you are not allowed to be more than 10lbs above the weight category limit (which is a rule I love and would like to see universal), Gassiev twice now weighed in at 90kg on the main weigh in then next day when most CW's bulk up to near 15st.
Gassiev had put no weight on, nothing, his fight against Krsytov he was 90kg then 90kg on fight day??

Two - His style of fighting where he walks you down gloves up ..... sure he can take it at CW, the Dorticos fight proved that but taking shots glove to head from AJ or Deontay hmmm I don't know about that one.

 

[aries]

I was thinking exactly the same, don't get me wrong, if he beats Usyk I have Gassiev down as one of the best in the world, right up there, the mans a killer ............

But two things.

One - He's IBF champ so they do two weigh ins, day before in public then on same day which you are not allowed to be more than 10lbs above the weight category limit (which is a rule I love and would like to see universal), Gassiev twice now weighed in at 90kg on the main weigh in then next day when most CW's bulk up to near 15st.
Gassiev had put no weight on, nothing, his fight against Krsytov he was 90kg then 90kg on fight day??

Two - His style of fighting where he walks you down gloves up ..... sure he can take it at CW, the Dorticos fight proved that but taking shots glove to head from AJ or Deontay hmmm I don't know about that one.

Yeah I agree with you about that bit in bold. Because of the style he fights in he doesn't have particularly quick feet, doesn't use a lot of head movement so he's going to be a fairly static target when he holds his gloves up high. These big HW's hit so hard I can't see his guard protecting him for that long. He's not an agile mover so I don't think he'll do too great at HW with these big guys.