ESPN TV commentator, former world champion in two categories, American Timothy Bradley gave
interview for local media after the boxing evening from Top Rank Promotions.
In a conversation, the American boxing expert shared his impressions of the bright knockout victory of the current IBF / WBC / WBO title holder from Canada Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) over the WBO light heavyweight champion (up to 79.4 kg) American Joe Smith Jr. ( 28-4, 22 KOs).
Bradley also commented on Beterbiev’s hypothetical fights against the WBA Super champion from the Russian Federation Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs), the absolute champion of the second middleweight (up to 76.2 kg) Mexican Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) and the former champion in two categories, American Andre Ward, who ended his career long ago.
Beterbiev – Smith. As per order — WMMAA report about the last fight
— [о Бетербиеве] He will knock you out of balance, and then, when he enters the near one, he will take control and tear you apart. And when he hits, he hits without reloading. He just boom-boom-boom. Just short, fast, accurate shots on the inside. [показывает]. It’s hard to deal with these, because the fighter does not recharge. It’s hard to see these beats fly. They say that he is too wide on his legs. It’s not too wide, it just corners you. That’s what he does. He understands exactly what he is doing.
— Beterbiev vs Bivol, how will such a fight go?
– Honestly, I did not watch Bivol in detail. I know what Bivol can do, but I need to see the holes. I need to see where Bivol is weak, where Beterbiev can have an advantage and vice versa. So I need to look at the vulnerabilities of both, and then look at their strengths and see which one of them can win and knows how to do it. I expect roughly equal things, but the problem is that Bivol has great legs [показывает]. And he stands close enough to be able to counter. Here is the difference. Bivol does not invest in strikes, he calculates the distance. Just like he did with Canelo. And that’s what you need to do.
Artur Beterbiev announced further plans: fight with Bivol, cruiserweight and heavyweight
We all know that Canelo wants a rematch with Bivol, but do you see the option to fight Beterbiev and have him win, or he won’t pull Beterbiev?
Canelo should fight Golovkin. That’s who he should fight. I expect a better Canelo this time. I’m pretty sure he figured out his mistakes. Okay, your two little strategies you used to use didn’t work with Bivol. The push-ups, the high block, the lures, the shoulder roll hits, it all didn’t work. And then standing near the ropes and playing with it and trying to get you to come up to throw a big punch, it didn’t work. Canelo needs to get back to walking with his feet. You need to get back on this bike, move here, move there, make small movements. We need to get back to our craft. He became too comfortable knocking out these guys.
– How would the fight between Beterbiev and Andre Ward go?
– I dont know. I don’t even want to imagine. Andre Ward retired. I wouldn’t bother him. Leave him alone, don’t talk about it.
