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Usyk has a signature fight vs Gassiev, Anatoly steps in to make sure he's properly prepared. But Gvozdyk, who needs the help more than Usyk does, has one against Beterbiev, and Anatoly apparently doesn't help. At the time I thought Teddy did a good job in the Stevenson fight, certainly he had the basics down (take small bites, wait for the old man to wear down, etc), but it was a bit strange that Gvozdyk was having a hard time setting up big clean shots on Stevenson until late, when that had been Gvozdyk's speciality coming up, at least volume and landing lots of punches.
Now this fight, there were numerous areas where Gvozdyk seemed underprepared, and there seemed no gameplan. Clearly they wanted Gvozdyk to get Beterbiev's respect in round 1, which was smart, but the plan never evolved from there. He didn't "go to war" with Beterbiev the entire time, but he didn't... not... go to war with him the whole time. He didn't force Beterbiev to fight going backwards, but he didn't fight off the backfoot himself either like Lara vs Canelo or anything like that.
He landed the 1 and the 2 but couldn't land the 3 all night.
But most concerning, he was not prepared for Beterbiev's holds on the side of his beck, the "head control" to use an MMA term. Beterbiev trains with George St Pierre, but what MMA fighters did Teddy bring in to help Gvozdyk? Seemingly none. That was a big factor in the fight.
The reason Beterbiev's right hand to Gvozdyk's body was so effective is because Gvozdyk's main strategy to take it away was to counter it with a Kovalev style jab/hook, but Gvozdyk's is too weak to dent Beterbiev. He needed to slip and do a full hook, or use his legs more for defense, or anything but counter left jabs which missed most the time and didnt do much damage even when they landed.
I don't have all the answers. Hell no one does, but Anatoly definitely has most of them, more than most others do. It's strange to me he helped Usyk but not Gvozdyk. Why is that?
Hopefully there is a rematch, and Anatoly helps out.
Now this fight, there were numerous areas where Gvozdyk seemed underprepared, and there seemed no gameplan. Clearly they wanted Gvozdyk to get Beterbiev's respect in round 1, which was smart, but the plan never evolved from there. He didn't "go to war" with Beterbiev the entire time, but he didn't... not... go to war with him the whole time. He didn't force Beterbiev to fight going backwards, but he didn't fight off the backfoot himself either like Lara vs Canelo or anything like that.
He landed the 1 and the 2 but couldn't land the 3 all night.
But most concerning, he was not prepared for Beterbiev's holds on the side of his beck, the "head control" to use an MMA term. Beterbiev trains with George St Pierre, but what MMA fighters did Teddy bring in to help Gvozdyk? Seemingly none. That was a big factor in the fight.
The reason Beterbiev's right hand to Gvozdyk's body was so effective is because Gvozdyk's main strategy to take it away was to counter it with a Kovalev style jab/hook, but Gvozdyk's is too weak to dent Beterbiev. He needed to slip and do a full hook, or use his legs more for defense, or anything but counter left jabs which missed most the time and didnt do much damage even when they landed.
I don't have all the answers. Hell no one does, but Anatoly definitely has most of them, more than most others do. It's strange to me he helped Usyk but not Gvozdyk. Why is that?
Hopefully there is a rematch, and Anatoly helps out.
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