By Tré Berry III | 10/21/2019

The beauty of boxing is in its wide variance of personalities, approaches, expression, and in it’s many different styles that is delivered for the boxing contingent to analyze, study, and enjoy. Last Friday, we’ve had one of the best fights of the 2019 year, which featured now Unified WBC/IBF Light-Heavyweight Champion 🇷🇺Artur Beterbiev (15-0-0, 15KO👊) out-dueling and eventually breaking down the talented Oleksandr Gvozdyk en route to a 10th round TKO victory. Beterbiev is now on the other side of the boxing world, having finally pulled himself up to the ⛰️mountain-top in the pros… sitting as now arguably the leading man in the maniacal Light-Heavyweight picture that is brimmed with talent – primed, old and new. Beterbiev is unique in his approach from the rest of the group with the specific type of skills he has, and in the style he utilizes. Here we will discuss why his inherit style is difficult to deal with as an opponent, and what its principles entail.

Digging into what Artur Beterbiev likes to do, he understands exactly where his advantages are, and realizes his overbearing strength advantage over the rest of the Light-Heavyweight landscape, as well as his immense punching power that was once again on display this past weekend, so he likes to slowly calculate his opponents, to pressure and eventually break down systematically. Now typically, power punchers with that mentality are more prone to being over-aggressive, leaning in over their front foot, to charge in like a 🐂bull seeing 🚩red, leaving themselves open to multiple counter-punches.

Beterbiev always keeps his balance as he works his way in, never letting up the mental-pressure he causes, and is adept at cutting off the ring and shrinking the real-estate before he even thinks to let his hands go. With that approach, in accordance to being very patient and waiting for opportunities to present itself, it’s difficult for opposing fighters to dictate his actions, plus he cuts down your chances of landing any type of counter punch because he’s not openly throwing his hands, and even when he does, being an even-fisted fighter with a comparable amount of power in both, he doesn’t feel the need to over-commit on his punches to do damage, which shortens the window of opportunity to land over the top, also made increasingly difficult due to Beterbiev maintaining his defensive positioning and rarely dropping his hands to be hit.

Beterbiev in many retrospects reminds me of, and has the same style as Super-Flyweight former RING World Champion 🇹🇭Srisaket Sor Rungivsai, with the differences being that Sor Rungvisai operates from the southpaw stance, and doesn’t have the overall stance balance that Beterbiev possesses. Even with the shortcoming of his balance, Sor Rungivsai is one who can throw punches at any angle, without losing steam on them no matter how out of position he is, and that virtue continuously proves to be bothersome against boxers heavily-reliant on sliding in ways to get out of punching range and evade combinations altogether when you’re one who can stay on top of opponents during their escape routes, forcing boxers to second-guess their movement after exchanges.

He has a ramrod jab, and especially for a power-fighter, can be a very dangerous weapon when you know how to use it. He also has the ability to fire his power punches short, or wide, heavily depending on the opponents situation, and within the confines of what’s taking place at the moment in the boxing match. The most underrated quality of the 34 year old Chechian fighter is his overall ability is that he is a very smart boxer, who knows how to use the subtleties of movement,and sequences to set you up, playing a game of ♝♜Chess between the administered punishment.

All things into consideration, he is a beatable fighter, with weaknesses to exploit…but you better be able to defend, handle the mental pressure, have the endurance and the footwork necessary to have a chance, because he will douse you with those circumstances at full tilt for the duration of a fight. Considering this style is not seen much today, you have to admire the different look he brings that further makes for an intriguing mix in the Light-Heavyweight division. Considering that he is all-business, and a no-nonsense fella void of playing games, you as a boxing fan have to be appreciative of what he brings to the sport, as he embodies the spirit of what boxing at its origins is supposed to be all about – talent, belief, respect, ability, and respectability.