How would you rate Beterbiev's defense?

[VatoMulatto]

His offense is very good and accurate but what about his defence? Would you say that's his flaw? Can somebody like Bivol make him pay?

[_Rexy_]

He's got good defense. Relies on his high ring IQ, deflects punches off his elbows and gloves, or dodges them outright. Underrated quality of his IMO.

[Redd Foxx]

Average at best. He was getting hit a lot, and i don't think the punch stat figures were even close to being correct for this fight. Gvozdyk wasn't durable enough but I think a prime Kovalev or Ward would have boxed his ears off. Not trying to bash the guy. I just wasn't awed by either guy last night. I went into it thinking of it being in the same vein as the Ward Kovalev fight but it became clear these guys just aren't on that level. Great fight though.

[YoungManRumble]

Cast iron chin/10

[Vlad_]

Cast iron chin/10

He was knocked down several times against weaker opposition in his career.

By NSB standards, that means he's packing glass.

[juggernaut666]

A lot of holes in it, but he gets away bc of his strengths ,very hittable and at times seems to challenge to get hit to land one. Fights very amateurish really on defense with chin sticking straight up,but hes Beterbiev, but if he can tighten things up hed be a much harder to exploit these things. Havent seen a LWH though to make him worry to the point to be to worried .

[Htown-Finest]

Beterbiev has chin from what it appears so far. Resilient + pressure

Bivol wins by decision if next fight

[Southpawology]

He has 0 head movement. Lets be honest beterbievs defense is not his strong suit.

[Boxing_1013]

Haven't seen a ton of AB's fights...but last night I felt like his offense/positioning/pressure and distance control were his defense...with all of that he had OG bouncing around and fighting off the back foot, and I don't think AB was too concerned about the shots OG was throwing because he didn't really have his weight behind them/wasn't sitting down on them...AB was getting inside and to OG easy enough so I just think he was content to walk inside and take a couple light shots to deliver his shots.

I can see how him and Kov reportedly had some close/disputed fights in the amateurs...Kov probably always had a good jab and I think a good strong jab is probably needed to keep AB somewhat at bay and to give yourself a chance at controlling distance, and thereby you are nullifying his power somewhat and your shots should have more sting on them too.

AB's gas tank looks better than Kov's though so maybe in the younger days they would have gone 12 rounds and Kov could have won, or even hurt AB late...but if AB is a better version of Yarde, and that may be a good/fair comparison...there is no way Kov gets out of that round/fight without getting KOed in my opinion.

Who knows though, I've been wrong before...would like to see that fight even now...will be interesting to see what all happens in Kov-Canelo and then where Bivol fits into all of this...I don't know a ton about Bivol but if he tries to dance around like OG did last night, I think he is getting stopped as well...you need something to back Beterbiev up, and I think a good jab is the only real way to do it.