• Xenforo Cloud is upgrading us to version 2.3.8 on Monday February 16th, 2026 at 12:00 AM PST. Expect a temporary downtime during this process. More info here

Beterbiev vs Smith Jr June 18th ESPN

Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Click to expand...

Some of this is lol worthy stupid but dude is a machine. His core strength is through the roof and it translates into his battering ram punches.

I really want to see Biev try to break down Bivol’s guard. I thought Canelo head hunted entirely too much and expected him to try to rip apart the mid section to drop the hands. Even with the same approach, Biev’s power is on another level from Canelo so Id be curious to see how that goes.
 
PUO3 said:
Some of this is lol worthy stupid but dude is a machine. His core strength is through the roof and it translates into his battering ram punches.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Obviously the main focus for him here is on developing/maintaining core strength. I recognize all of the stuff he's doing in the video. The barbell rotations, med ball toss, alternating to wrist push-up position (to strengthen the wrists & increase flexibility), dumbbells, reflex ball training (think Loma, Usyk, and Tszyu), and hammer & tire drill. The latter is a staple S&C drill of Eastern Euro fighters. In MMA Fedor used it all the time and if you recall so did Dmitry Pirog. Unfortunately for Pirog though it resulted in a slipped disc that ended his career. How about Beterbiev punching while his training partner is skipping rope? Apparently that's just to show off for the camera. In theory it could be used to sharpen his timing and further develop hand-eye coordination but it's not practical. Some of his training methods are certainly unusual but they're fun to watch lol.
PUO3 said:
I really want to see Biev try to break down Bivol’s guard. I thought Canelo head hunted entirely too much and expected him to try to rip apart the mid section to drop the hands. Even with the same approach, Biev’s power is on another level from Canelo so Id be curious to see how that goes.
Click to expand...
So do I. I believe that he'll be successful in getting through (or around) Bivol's guard. Canelo definitely head hunted too much. He also kept hunting Bivol's lead arm the whole fight and that was a big mistake. His arm hunting wasn't proving to be effective, and it wasn't scoring, so you'd think that his corner would've advised him to stop and go elsewhere. They never did. What a terrible gameplan and cornering job by the Reynosos. There was also no urgency from them at all until the last round. If Bivol plans to rely on a similar high guard cover-up strategy against the ropes with Beterbiev he's going to regret it. Even partially blocked punches will have an effect so Bivol needs to stay off the ropes and out of the corners altogether. However, I expect Beterbiev will control center ring so it'll be difficult for Bivol to freely use it in order to escape his relentless pressure.
 
Last edited:
what makes beterbiev so scary is his size, p4p fuck you power, solid boxing skills and gas tank

i still think bivol is the only one who could beat beterbiev but smith got more than enough power to crack any chin
 
Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Indeed. Obviously the main focus for him here is on developing/maintaining core strength. I recognize all of the stuff he's doing in the video. The barbell rotations, med ball toss, alternating to wrist push-up position (to strengthen the wrists & increase flexibility), dumbbells, reflex ball training (think Loma, Usyk, and Tszyu), and hammer & tire drill. The latter is a staple S&C drill of Eastern Euro fighters. In MMA Fedor used it all the time and if you recall so did Dmitry Pirog. Unfortunately for Pirog though it resulted in a slipped disc that ended his career. How about Beterbiev punching while his training partner is skipping rope? Apparently that's just to show off for the camera. In theory it could be used to sharpen his timing and further develop hand-eye coordination but it's not practical. Some of his training methods are certainly unusual but they're fun to watch lol.

So do I. I believe that he'll be successful in getting through (or around) Bivol's guard. Canelo definitely head hunted too much. He also kept hunting Bivol's lead arm the whole fight and that was a big mistake. His arm hunting wasn't proving to be effective, and it wasn't scoring, so you'd think that his corner would've advised him to stop and go elsewhere. They never did. What a terrible gameplan and cornering job by the Reynosos. There was also no urgency from them at all until the last round. If Bivol plans to rely on a similar high guard cover-up strategy against the ropes with Beterbiev he's going to regret it. Even partially blocked punches will have an effect so Bivol needs to stay off the ropes and out of the corners altogether. However, I expect Beterbiev will control center ring so it'll be difficult for Bivol to freely use it in order to escape his relentless pressure.
Click to expand...
It was one of the worse cornering performances I can think of. It was like they thought they were seeing the same reaction that Callum Smith had and in reality Bivol was entirely unfazed. I dont know Canelo can overcome the Bivol puzzle, but there is a road to a better showing for sure.

But fuck can you imagine trying to block Biev’s onslaught lmao. My god the pain for the following week would be sickening.
 
PUO3 said:
It was one of the worse cornering performances I can think of. It was like they thought they were seeing the same reaction that Callum Smith had and in reality Bivol was entirely unfazed. I dont know Canelo can overcome the Bivol puzzle, but there is a road to a better showing for sure.

But fuck can you imagine trying to block Biev’s onslaught lmao. My god the pain for the following week would be sickening.
Click to expand...
Yeah man that cornering was pathetic. Banking on that arm targeting tactic to affect Bivol the way it did Smith was a miscalculation made considerably worse because they had no plan B. I find it bizarre because you'd think they'd have it covered in the event that their primary strategy failed, which it did. Some of the analysts I know do believe Canelo can win a rematch. He just has to make a few adjustments. But, as you said, even if he ends up losing the rematch I'm sure he'll look better than he did in the first fight. There's plenty of room for improvement with Canelo next time. Bivol may try to block Beterbiev's onslaught but he's still going to feel it. For sure lol.
 
When I see the odds for Beterbiev/Bivol I'll be betting on him to do what Canelo was too small to do against Bivol, methodically break him down and finish him. I thought Smith Jr. had the power but his delivery was too crude to be effective.
 
Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
Yeah man that cornering was pathetic. Banking on that arm targeting tactic to affect Bivol the way it did Smith was a miscalculation made considerably worse because they had no plan B. I find it bizarre because you'd think they'd have it covered in the event that their primary strategy failed, which it did. Some of the analysts I know do believe Canelo can win a rematch. He just has to make a few adjustments. But, as you said, even if he ends up losing the rematch I'm sure he'll look better than he did in the first fight. There's plenty of room for improvement with Canelo next time. Bivol may try to block Beterbiev's onslaught but he's still going to feel it. For sure lol.
Click to expand...
Weird some think he can simply adjust, even as a Canelo fan I worry more about how much Bivol can adjust to make the divide even wider than I believe Canelo can adjust enough to beat him. I think variable number 1 is a gastank and conditioning so that whatever strategy he takes in the rematch, that he can actually sustain that workrate he comes in fresh with, THAT probably is the biggest adjustment above all he really needs and I don't know that he can adjust that. There's not a lot of room for error in the Bivol rematch imo, canelo can't be visibly slowing down by the 5th-6th and expect to hang in there with a guy he can't dent but physically out hustles him in every area of the criteria.
 
borntoloseNOT said:
Weird some think he can simply adjust, even as a Canelo fan I worry more about how much Bivol can adjust to make the divide even wider than I believe Canelo can adjust enough to beat him. I think variable number 1 is a gastank and conditioning so that whatever strategy he takes in the rematch, that he can actually sustain that workrate he comes in fresh with, THAT probably is the biggest adjustment above all he really needs and I don't know that he can adjust that. There's not a lot of room for error in the Bivol rematch imo, canelo can't be visibly slowing down by the 5th-6th and expect to hang in there with a guy he can't dent but physically out hustles him in every area of the criteria.
Click to expand...
As many fighters do, Canelo fell in love with his power. Time to shed 5-8lbs of mass and use his boxing more. Will it beat Bivol? I dont know. Can he do a hell of a lot better than the first fight? Absolutely.
 
PUO3 said:
As many fighters do, Canelo fell in love with his power. Time to shed 5-8lbs of mass and use his boxing more. Will it beat Bivol? I dont know. Can he do a hell of a lot better than the first fight? Absolutely.
Click to expand...
Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the rematch, and Canelos camp had a fairly one dimensional gameplan, and Canelo himself seemed low iq that night, surely he could come in with a better approach, my only thought was Bivol also fought a specific way and I wonder if he almost fought with too much respect for Canelo, I'm wondering if he sits on his punches more and uses the knowledge from from first fight to run away with it next time is all I'm speculating about. It will be interesting to see what happens.
 
borntoloseNOT said:
Weird some think he can simply adjust, even as a Canelo fan I worry more about how much Bivol can adjust to make the divide even wider than I believe Canelo can adjust enough to beat him. I think variable number 1 is a gastank and conditioning so that whatever strategy he takes in the rematch, that he can actually sustain that workrate he comes in fresh with, THAT probably is the biggest adjustment above all he really needs and I don't know that he can adjust that. There's not a lot of room for error in the Bivol rematch imo, canelo can't be visibly slowing down by the 5th-6th and expect to hang in there with a guy he can't dent but physically out hustles him in every area of the criteria.
Click to expand...
I think Canelo will fight smarter in the rematch. He'll come better prepared, too. Bivol will come in more confident and that will probably translate into a willingness to press more and up his aggression. That might not be to his advantage since he'll be more open to counters. Bivol is good at picking his spots though, and limiting countering opportunities in general, but every fight is different.

You're right in that Canelo does have to fix his stamina in the rematch. Fortunately for him a fair bit of that was down to him putting everything into those big swings that constantly missed or were blocked. If he avoids falling into that same type of pattern and is mindful of it he won't drain himself and tire as quickly. Improving his cardio, pacing himself a lot more intelligently, and just being more efficient when throwing his punches should help him a lot. Energy conservation will be important. Staying behind the jab and incorporating more feints would also help since it takes a lot less energy than constantly throwing nothing but heavy power punches like Canelo did last time out. I'd pick Bivol to win the rematch but Canelo does have a shot at winning if he makes the right adjustments and there are a few of them he'll have to make to get the W.
 
I looked online a bit but didn't see anything one way or the other. I assume weigh-ins late Friday afternoon at MSG/Hulu Theater? Anybody know?
 
Nova44 said:
Just in case people looking at this card only recognize Biev and Smith...

The co-main event is Cuban x2 Olympic Gold Medalist Robeisy Ramirez vs undefeated Puerto Rican Abraham Nova.

Robeisy Ramirez -


Abraham Nova -
Click to expand...

Best top rank card in a while … they had been on a horrible streak imo … Main and co main are fire
 
Go Super Nova! Glad this isn't on PPV. A while back every decent fight was on PPV.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,281,590
Messages
58,377,762
Members
176,017
Latest member
KTFOPerformance

Share this page

Back
Top