BoxRec

What do you all think of Oleksandr Gvozdyk?

He appears to be a world-class boxer with his excellent combination of skill and power.

Gvozdyk-Mohammedi full fight video

I hope he has the opportunity to fight contenders in the coming months, so he'll receive recognition as the top light heavyweight that he is.

Good fighter, does a lot of things well
And that right hand counter to finish, as the commentator said, it was textbook. It was beautiful and you can see he has power.
I'd question how stiff a test Mohamadi was but for your ninth fight he's a good level to be flattening in that fashion. I would worry what would happen against someone at a higher level, Mohamadi had a decent amount of success in the small time we had to see them.

Would be interesting to see some of these big heavy handed Russian/Eastern Europeans in together
Mekhontsev, Beterbiev, Shabranskyy, Salamov, Gvosdyk, Bivol etc

Sort out which one or two of these guys will go all the way, they can't all be the next Kovalev!
And there must be a few interesting rivalries in there from their amateur days too

davie wrote:Would be interesting to see some of these big heavy handed Russian/Eastern Europeans in together
Mekhontsev, Beterbiev, Shabranskyy, Salamov, Gvosdyk, Bivol etc

Lots of talent at light heavyweight.

I'd first like to see Gvozdyk in with Pascal, Barrera, Gonzalez, Cleverly and/or Fonfara.

Mekhontsev won't go far, especially with Arum as his promoter. Shabranskyy and Beterbiev will do well, they have better promoters than Top Rank.

Bivol is very talented, but needs to fight a few top 11 to 50 light heavyweights before taking on a top 10 opponent.

One thing that jumps out at me looking at the top 40 fighters in that division is there's a lot of 0's.

The Russian and eastern european fighter I mentioned as well as Alvarez, Oosthuizen, Brown, Skoglund, Monaghan and Yildrim.

A lot of guys who will doubtless have some talent but also heavily padded record and will be steered away from each other as long as the other undefeated fighters are viewed as a risk.
Lot's of guys being carefully steered up the rankings and towards the most straight forward route to a title.

You could really make a lot of interesting fights in that division if you could just hand pick and match up whoever you wanted to

Very good prospect, but he is being trained by Robert Garcia which may be a limitation for becoming an elite fighter.

ikorolev wrote:Very good prospect, but he is being trained by Robert Garcia which may be a limitation for becoming an elite fighter.

Yes, but my greater concern is that he's promoted by Bob Arum.

Although most would share your Toprank related concerns, it's not as if Arum hasn't ever guided a fighter to a world title.

It's not like Bob's going to stand in his way or block his progress, he wants his fighters fighting title fights and earning the big bucks.

Will they be poorly matched on route? probably.
Will they face promotional blockages to certain fights will rival promoters guys? Almost certainly but that's not just one guys problem.
Will they fight the very best if/when they reach the top? Almost certainly not.

But Bob Arum, to my knowledge, is not in the habit of stopping his fighters fighting for belts.

itold u hewas good

Freedom2013 wrote:

ikorolev wrote:Very good prospect, but he is being trained by Robert Garcia which may be a limitation for becoming an elite fighter.

Yes, but my greater concern is that he's promoted by Bob Arum.

Gilberto Ramirez promoted by Arum just got a belt, and he is ranked #1 SMW by boxrec. Your skills can be improved by your trainer, not your promoter.

Edit: of course, I meant Ramirez, not Rodriguez. That's why I prefer to use nicknames for Mexican fighters

ikorolev wrote:Very good prospect, but he is being trained by Robert Garcia which may be a limitation for becoming an elite fighter.

Why? Garcia is one of the better guys around at the moment. So far as I can remember he has only had two "elite" (whatever that means) talents at his gym - one, Donaire, who was a p4p guy for a few years and the other, M Garcia, was headed in the same direction before the layoff. Maidana became visibly better under him. Ray Arcel himself couldn't have trained Rios or Margarito into having a shot at beating Pacquiao.

ikorolev wrote:Gilberto Rodriguez promoted by Arum just got a belt, and he is ranked #1 SMW by boxrec. Your skills can be improved by your trainer, not your promoter.

It's not his skills I'm worried about, it's his opportunities.

Gvozdyk hasn't even been on TV yet. Shabranskyy has had several fights televised now, as has Khytrov and several other East Europeans not promoted by Arum. Top Rank has a history of ruining boxers from Eastern Europe with poor pay, meaningless opposition and periods of inactivity, then using them as opponents when they've declined.

If Gvozdyk was with Haymon (manager but really a promoter) or with Golden Boy or Main Events, he'd be properly promoted and make much more money.

HyacinthusTurnipseed wrote:

ikorolev wrote:Very good prospect, but he is being trained by Robert Garcia which may be a limitation for becoming an elite fighter.

Why? Garcia is one of the better guys around at the moment. So far as I can remember he has only had two "elite" (whatever that means) talents at his gym - one, Donaire, who was a p4p guy for a few years and the other, M Garcia, was headed in the same direction before the layoff. Maidana became visibly better under him. Ray Arcel himself couldn't have trained Rios or Margarito into having a shot at beating Pacquiao.

Garcia trains brawlers. Look at Maidana, Rios, Rubio, Gradovich. Such a bunch of losers.

Freedom2013 wrote:[quote="ikorolev]Gilberto Rodriguez promoted by Arum just got a belt, and he is ranked #1 SMW by boxrec. Your skills can be improved by your trainer, not your promoter.

It's not his skills I'm worried about, it's his opportunities.

Gvozdyk hasn't even been on TV yet. Shabranskyy has had several fights televised now, as has Khytrov and several other East Europeans not promoted by Arum. Top Rank has a history of ruining boxers from Eastern Europe with poor pay, meaningless opposition and periods of inactivity, then using them as opponents when they've declined.

If Gvozdyk was with Haymon (manager but really a promoter) or with Golden Boy or Main Events, he'd be properly promoted and make much more money.[/quote][/quote]

Ur totally right.....Shabransky hasn't been on tv, nobody has heard of him. Arum will hide him tru tv in 8 rders I'm afraid. Mexican fighters sell in America so it doesn't surprise me that Rodriguez got a title shot. He'd be better off with Main Events or Haymon

He looks like he has lots of potential but needs a little more seasoning, definitely not ready for Kovalev yet who does everything at a much faster pace.

hurricanemitch14 wrote:Ur totally right.....Shabransky hasn't been on tv, nobody has heard of him. Arum will hide him tru tv in 8 rders I'm afraid. Mexican fighters sell in America so it doesn't surprise me that Rodriguez got a title shot. He'd be better off with Main Events or Haymon

No, Shabranskyy (promoted by Golden Boy) has been on TV many times, on the Latino telecasts and once on ShoBox. All the real boxing fans have now heard of him.

Derevyanchenko and Khytrov (promoted by DiBella and managed by Haymon) have been on TV many times.

Top Rank's East Europeans Gvozdyk, Kavaliauskas, Mekhontsev, Ponomarev, have never been on TV, not even on Tru TV under cards. And they've been paid very poorly by old Arum.

EXCITING fighters sell in America, regardless of where they're from.

All you need to know on how TR treats Euro fighters can be explained with one name Matt Koborov, he could have done much better.

pugilisticprofessor wrote:All you need to know on how TR treats Euro fighters can be explained with one name Matt Koborov, he could have done much better.

How is getting stopped by Andy Lee and struggling with some journeymen Arum's fault ? I would blame Matt's trainer and himself for that.

Freedom2013 wrote: Top Rank's East Europeans Gvozdyk, Kavaliauskas, Mekhontsev, Ponomarev, have never been on TV, not even on Tru TV under cards. And they've been paid very poorly by old Arum.

I thought I saw Mekhontsev on TV ...

ikorolev wrote:

pugilisticprofessor wrote:All you need to know on how TR treats Euro fighters can be explained with one name Matt Koborov, he could have done much better.

How is getting stopped by Andy Lee and struggling with some journeymen Arum's fault ? I would blame Matt's trainer and himself for that.

Korobov declined after six years of poor pay and fighting meaningless opponents.

Now that Arum is co-promoting Viktor Postol, he hasn't fought since he won his title. Arum seems to want him to decline.

Lomachenko is wasting his prime against meaningless opponents every six months because of the miserly old snake. He'll never reach his potential now.

Too bad some of these guys can't break away from Bob Arum, like Floyd Mayweather did.

Mayweather is rich today, while Pacquiao is nearly broke.

ikorolev wrote:

Freedom2013 wrote:Top Rank's East Europeans Gvozdyk, Kavaliauskas, Mekhontsev, Ponomarev, have never been on TV, not even on Tru TV under cards. And they've been paid very poorly by old Arum.

I thought I saw Mekhontsev on TV ...

No. He was on Top Rank undercard stream. He's now declined as a fighter, living in poverty several years after making the mistake of signing with the Arum.

Gvozdyk's last fight. Why won't Bob Arum permit this guy to fight on TV?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mla8caETyeQ