Pretty sure Roy Jones might be the only light heavy in history that would be favourite over Arthur

Michael Spinx

Beterbiev is unbeaten so we dont know where his limit is , its all pure assumption, he could be the best in history we don't know, I doubt it but until a guy has finished his career you cant say where he is when he is blowing everyone including WCs out of there. Every exciting top guy that comes along gets this same treatment, with Beterbiev he has only had 17 fights and to be where he is in the division is no easy feat, if he were to win another 10 fights his resume will be pretty impressive Id say.

Lots of great fighters at LHW. Brad Foster, Archie Moore and Michael Moorer would’ve gotten Beterbiev out of there. Ezzard Charles was the greatest at that weight. He beat the whole murderer`s row there, he beat Moore 3 times. he moved up to pick a heavyweight world title and that is a reason why was he never a world champ at 175.

joe calzaghe would have beaten him Based on what?

Arthur Beiterbiev is a straight beast. His crushing win over the very underrated Gvozdyk isn’t talked about enough. I don’t think Andre Ward would be able to handle his pressure tbh but it would be a great fight. this guy is BIG for the weight. You can see it in his core, he is a unit, pure packed muscle, no bodybuilder physique at all. It’s just his natural build. Straight killer what do you guys think? Michael Spinks, Archie Moore, Bob Foster and quite a few more. And in no way does Pac=Duran.

Jones Jr. was by far more popular in his heyday and would be considered the betting favorite. That said, my money would be on Beterbiev to come out of it with the W.

Lots of great fighters at LHW. Brad Foster, Archie Moore and Michael Moorer would’ve gotten Beterbiev out of there.

calzaghe would have boxed rings around him Beter wouldn't have even blinked when slappy was throwing and land his own crushing blows Slappy never fought a natural light heavyweight

Outside of power, Joe Smith does not really give any of the past great top Light Heavyweights much trouble. Smith is slow of foot, and has slow hand speed. Combined with not much technical creativity. Beiterbiev did what he was supposed to do. While I agree with your assessment of Smith I do think you're underselling just how impressive Beterbiev was here. He fought in his opponents home town, against a guy who has never been knocked down despite fighting big punchers in the division. Say what you will about Smiths Jr boxing ability but he is a physically tough, durable guy who also happens to hit pretty hard himself. Beterbiev was the favourite but I don't think anyone thought he would steamroll Smith Jr like that. For context Bivol went the full 12 rounds against Smith Jr and even got hurt pretty badly by him

That was past prime Roy Jones. Everyone knows he was past prime. If your dad watched boxing, he would know too. Go ask him. What’s next, prime RJJ couldn’t beat Meiris Breidis at cruiserweight because he lost to Danny Green? You have to take a fighter’s best moments into consideration when discussing fantasy fights, and the length of their “best”. Roy Jones Jr was the best fighter of an entire decade, and about 1/4 of the decade after that. 1988-2002. That’s the RJJ that would be favored over Beterbiev. That’s a fact. There is no 168-175 fighter in history that would be favored to beat RJJ by oddsmakers whether you don’t think RJJ would actually win or not, isn’t the argument. It’s the fact that oddsmakers, media, and fans would all mostly favor Jones over Beterbiev. You really can’t argue against that. My pops don't like boxing, I tried to get him into it, but he is too stubborn. The last fight we watched together was Xavier Martinez vs Claudio Marrero. And honestly, it was a really good back and forth fight and Marrero might have been robbed even... Yes, I know my timeline is entirely off and I'm just talking rubbish at this point but I'm not totally convinced Roy could showboat and slickster his way to a decision vs Artur. I know he ain't getting him outta there despite what some might say about levels. Even if prime Roy, who arguably never existed at 175, is a level or two above Beterbiev, Artur has the will and mental fortitude to get up and finish the fight on his feet regardless of how the judges saw it.

Arthur Beiterbiev is a straight beast. His crushing win over the very underrated Gvozdyk isn’t talked about enough. I don’t think Andre Ward would be able to handle his pressure tbh but it would be a great fight. this guy is BIG for the weight. You can see it in his core, he is a unit, pure packed muscle, no bodybuilder physique at all. It’s just his natural build. Straight killer what do you guys think? Nice topic! Im a big Ward fan... I am inclined to agree with you. As far as Jones? Wow!!! we just don't have enough of a body of work on Beiterbiev. What do we have? I think the guy most similar to Biev that Jones fought would actually be Glencoff Johnson... bare with me on this one lol: I know that the version of Jones, Glencoff fought, was not the best. and while Johnson was talented, and got a lot of bad decisions, I know he was not on the level of Beiv.... But here is an interesting parallel: 1. Johnson moved similar and had similar heavy hands. Johnson basically took short steps in bunches to get at his opponent. His hits were heavy and unrelenting. Biev, has much faster feet but its the same small steps, cutting at different angles, and relentless pursuit, but Biev is a lot better at it than Johnson was. 2. A Biev victory would look like the Glencoffe johnson defeat of Jones. Could Biev pull it off? There is a real danger that Biev gets cracked with the hook while standing in the middle of the ring. To beat Jones he has to move continually and make Jones punch while resetting constantly. Usyk and Biev are two great fighters that have throwback type skills and could present a challenge to Jones. Jones, on the other hand, was capable of catching even the best fighters. His speed and feints, along with his shots off the hook, including the double, triple hook, was dangerous enough to become the puncher in a fight with another guy who could hit. Would love to watch these fights! If I had to pick? I think Beiterbiev would do it, Usyk would get hit with the hooks... Jones would be too quick.

Jones had to make 175 on the weigh in for tarver that's 20 lbs lighter than what he was against ruiz roughly and 5 days before the weigh in Jones weighed 183 So just shows how much Jones would have took out of himself to make 175 And he was never the same again...end of story All in all I'd say he had to lose at least 10 lbs of muscle thinking about it properly and killed himself losing water for the weigh in and most likely struggled just as much or even more for the second tarver fight Tarver was a style matchup nightmare for Jones. Even the first fight before jones had to cut weight it was extremely close and could have gone either way. They had history in the amateurs and tarver always gave jones hell. In the rematch tarver just adjusted to jones style. Beterbiev would have stopped a prime jones at 175.

The same RJJ that was KO'd by Glen Johnson? Yeah Beterbiev would have killed him... I'm sure someone else already said this above me but I couldn't be arsed to read the thread because of reasons That was past prime Roy Jones. Everyone knows he was past prime. If your dad watched boxing, he would know too. Go ask him. What’s next, prime RJJ couldn’t beat Meiris Breidis at cruiserweight because he lost to Danny Green? You have to take a fighter’s best moments into consideration when discussing fantasy fights, and the length of their “best”. Roy Jones Jr was the best fighter of an entire decade, and about 1/4 of the decade after that. 1988-2002. That’s the RJJ that would be favored over Beterbiev. That’s a fact. There is no 168-175 fighter in history that would be favored to beat RJJ by oddsmakers whether you don’t think RJJ would actually win or not, isn’t the argument. It’s the fact that oddsmakers, media, and fans would all mostly favor Jones over Beterbiev. You really can’t argue against that.

You sound like a child with that sarcasm. Calm down kid. I'm not sure kids are actually very sarcastic tbf. I just want to see the boxers fight each other before they are awarded wins!;)

The same RJJ that was KO'd by Glen Johnson? Yeah Beterbiev would have killed him... I'm sure someone else already said this above me but I couldn't be arsed to read the thread because of reasons

There is no evidence of that. He is fighting opponents who are levels below them guys. Those guys could fight, they actually had elite technical ability. Joe Smith is just a tough, game, slow, hard puncher etc. I have no idea who else Beterbiev has beaten, who is so great? Bivol does have technical ability, so really Beterbiev has to face him. You ever hear of a guy named Oleksandr Gvozdyk? 17 wins,14 KO's? Ended Adonis Stevenson's reign in order to win the wbc title,almost killed him in the process? Taller,longer,stronger than bivol,with legit ko power? Yeah, Artur retired that guy.

Oh yeah, A beats B, C beats A, so C also beats B by default. Stevenson also beat Bellew, so let's give that win to Beterbiev too. And Bellew beat Haye, Haye beat Ruiz, Ruiz beat Rahman and Rahman beat Lewis! Fuck me, Artur Beterbiev is the best Heavyweight ever!!! You sound like a child with that sarcasm. Calm down kid.

Beterbiev would have stopped the whole bunch inside 10 rounds. There is no evidence of that. He is fighting opponents who are levels below them guys. Those guys could fight, they actually had elite technical ability. Joe Smith is just a tough, game, slow, hard puncher etc. I have no idea who else Beterbiev has beaten, who is so great? Bivol does have technical ability, so really Beterbiev has to face him.

Man, this division has a very rich history. There were many tough huge guys. You can`t say Beterbiev would beat everybody except one guy because he beat Smith jr.

How can you say he hasn't done much in the division ? He Retired Gvodyk. Who had Retired Stevenson for the WBC title. Oh yeah, A beats B, C beats A, so C also beats B by default. Stevenson also beat Bellew, so let's give that win to Beterbiev too. And Bellew beat Haye, Haye beat Ruiz, Ruiz beat Rahman and Rahman beat Lewis! Fuck me, Artur Beterbiev is the best Heavyweight ever!!!