A critical look at the past week in boxing
GOOD
Artur Betterbiev’s win over Joe Smith Jr on Saturday was one of the easiest of his career.
That’s by no means downplaying the Montreal-based Russians’ triumph or Smith’s past accomplishments, which are substantial. It just underscores what we hear all the time, that there are levels to boxing.
Smith is a strong puncher; Beterbiev is a powerful puncher who can also hit the box, which is the product of his long amateur career. Saturday’s results – the second round knockout – were predictable.
Beterbiev (18-0.18 KO) quickly closed the gap with Smith (28-4.22 KO). And once he did, the Americans were ready, but overwhelmed simply could not avoid the powerful punches coming his way. Betterbiev was too good for him.
Each ground punch deals more damage, until Smith is battered, helpless to take any more in the second round.
I wouldn’t call it the greatest victory of Beterbiev’s career for the reason stated above. Levels. his 10order– Oleksandr Gvozdyk’s surrounding save to unify two £175 titles in 2019 was more impressive than Gvozdyk’s ability.
Still, the win at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is huge in terms of where it can lead. He took Smith’s title, giving him three of the four major belts. Now he hopes to face Dmitry Bivol, the fourth holder.
Who will win the fight between Beterbiev and Bivol for the undisputed championship? First, I’m not going to draw any conclusions based on what happened on Saturday. Bivol is at Beterbiev’s level, although he has a completely different style.
Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) has limited power but he is a master boxer, as he showed in his one-way win over Canelo Alvarez last month. He will bring up the problems for Beterbiev, just like Gvozdyk did.
I would give Beterbiev an edge over Bivol because of his combination of ability and power but this is basically a 50-50 matchup. Let’s hope it happens.
BAD
Joe Smith Jr is overpowered by a better boxer. Elsa / Getty Images
Smith’s defeat must have been painful for him.
There is nothing more devastating than pouring all your heart into a great war and then failing miserably, as Smith did. And the fact that it happened an hour from his Long Island neighborhood – in front of hundreds of his devoted fans – must have upset him especially.
However, that feeling will fade away. In time, he will look back on his achievements with great pride.
I often say that former lightweight champion Rafael Ruelas has brought out his limited natural ability – 100% – more than any other fighter I have ever met.
Smith may be on par with Ruelas in that regard. The union employee was once only so skilled in boxing that he beat several 175-pound athletes arguably more talented than him (Andrzej Fonfara, Bernard Hopkins, Jesse Hart, Eleider Alvarez, and Maxim Vlasov), winning get the main belt and participate in a title merger.
That, in its entirety, is called a dream come true.
How did he do that?
He and Ruelas are blessed with punching prowess, which helps them overcome their imperfections. That is only part of the story. They relied on courage and determination more than anything else, the will to win battles they should have lost.
Ruelas got up from two knocks in the first round to overtake Freddie Pendleton and win the lightweight title in 1994. Smith struggled against Vlasov last April but won two innings. Last with all three cards to win and win his title.
Courage, determination. Those attributes can take you a long time.
Smith will never be remembered as a great warrior. The skill set is not there. At the same time, he will always be admired as a warrior who does not allow his limitations to derail the pursuit of his dreams.
WORSE
Boxing lost a legend this past Monday.
Carlos Ortiz, one of the greatest lightweight athletes of all time and Honoree, has died in his hometown of New York. He’s 85 years old.
Ortiz is a native of Ponce, Puerto Rico, who moved with his family to New York City when he was 8 years old. It was there that he discovered his street fighting, organized boxing, and unusual talent.
He is an excellent technical fighter with solid strength and unusual endurance. He was only stopped once in his career, in his final fight against Ken Buchanan.
The Hall of Fame writer said in an ESPN article that Ortiz “had it all. He’s a near-perfect boxer: fast, strong, smart and powerful, with a quick, sharp backhand. ”
Ortiz (61-7-1, 30 KOs) won the light heavyweight title in 1959 but had his greatest success moving down to lightweight, the division he dominated for much of the 1960s. He had two championships from 1962 to 1968.
His victims were some of the best little warriors of the time. Among them: Hall of Famers teammate Duilio Loi (who beat Ortiz in two other matches), Joe Brown, Flash Elorde (twice), Ismael Laguna (beat whom he led 2-1) and Sugar Ramos (twice).
And many of his greatest successes occurred in hostile hounds. Outside of the US and Puerto Rico, he fought in Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Panama, the Philippines, Argentina and Mexico.
The late great boxing writer and historian Bert Randolph Sugar once ranked Ortiz 87th in the list of the 100 greatest boxers of all time, which says something to thousands of elite boxers who have ever been. step over the rope.
That resume and respect tells you why he is considered one of the greatest Puerto Rican boxers of all time, perhaps the greatest.
He is certainly in the class of more familiar countrymen Wilfredo Gomez, Felix Trinidad, Hector Camacho, Wilfredo Benitez and Edwin Rosario. rGraham puts him at number 1.
Another Walk of Fame boxing journalist, Hugh McIlvanney, writing in The Observer after Ortiz’s second win over the great Ismael Laguna, gave Ortiz the final compliment:[He] proving once again that he possesses almost every attribute required of a professional boxer. ”
RIP, champion.
