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The time has come and the Russian ground will welcome the real "shock" of professional boxing trains in 2018: the grand finale of the Super Series and the total unification of the cruiser division. The battle between undefeated Murat Gbadiev (26-0, 19 KOs) and Oleksandr Usyk (14-0, 11 KOs), will take place this Saturday at the Moscow Olympic Stadium which will have its 35,000 seats occupied.
The Russian Gbadiev He holds the belts of super champion of the World Association (WBA) and that of the International Federation (IBF), while the Ukrainian Usyk is World Council Champion (WBC) and of the World Organization (WBO). The winner of this bout, will enter the chosen group of champions who have managed to unify the four main belts of a division, as already achieved by the Americans Bernard Hopkins (2004), Jermain Taylor (2005) and Terence Crawford ( 2017).
The Battle of Gbadiev-Usyk, in principle, was scheduled to May 11 spent in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but it should have been postponed due to a minor injury in the left Ukrainian elbow, during a training session. The postponement, also determined the change of place pbading the actions to the city of Moscow.
Saturday's winner, in addition to the Muhammad Ali Trophy, will receive a check for $ 10 million, which will be the largest portion of the $ 25 million total distributed by this contest among all its participants: Yunier Dorticos and Mike Perez from Cuba, Mairis Briedis of Lotenia, Marco Huck of Serbia, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk of Poland and Dmitry Kudriashov of Russia, eliminated in previous matches.
Usyk, 30, gold medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games, beat Serbia's Marco Huck in the 10-round KO quarter-finals and beat Latvian Mairis Briedis in half-time. final. Gbadiev, meanwhile, beat TKO in the third round, Poland's Krzysztof Wlodarczy, and then eliminated Cuban Yunier Dorticos in the final round of the final round.
The battle of Saturday, because of its expectations, promises to be the fight of the year and the winner, no doubt, will appear later in the list of the top ten Libra per pound on the planet.
RIVALS WITH MORE DIFFERENCES THAN SIMILITUDES
The power in the shot seems to be the only similar attribute in his boxing abilities, in the rest, there are noticeable differences between the one and the l '. other. Something that in the previous gives even more attractive to this fight. Even the similarities of power can even be questioned by linking them to the way this power is used by both.
Usik applies it in a phased manner according to his better distance and his tactical intelligence. Stick hard and consistently, but gradually. Gbadiev is more decisive and more energetic, he is able to finish his fights at once, whether he succeeds or not on the occasion of a defensive position.
In the others, they accumulate only differences, starting with their guards and their opponents. Arms worn: Gbadiev is orthodox and while Usyk is left-handed. Both have the same height (6.3), but Usyk exceeds it in the range (78 to 76 inches). Two inches do not seem to be an excessive distance, but in this case they are and they determine until the type of fight we will see.
Usyk is very effective with the shot at the middle zone, excellent when he releases his power combinations and general shows a variety of offensive tools to search the knockout. He has eliminated six of his last eight rivals, but his fight plan contemplates all options. If boxing is necessary, do not hesitate to do it. This happened to him in his last fight against Briedis, which he defeated firmly in twelve rounds. If this time you have to resort to the same methods, these two inches in the arm will allow you to create your defensive comfort zone and start your strategy from a territory out of Gbadiev's reach.
The Russian does not seem to have many options this time the obvious thing would be to see him add more moments of pressure than usual by trying to shorten the distance to be able to place his best shots of a position where he manages to do damage. The greatest virtue is the power in his right hand. Gbadiev, perhaps, is the most dangerous fighter of the division in this region, a single blow is enough to hit or hurt. His style revolves around this virtue, is a practical boxer, a hermetic defense that bet everything on this blow that destroys.
THE INCOGNITAS ON USYK
Oleksandr Usyk was a football player until his fifteenth birthday (2002) when he discovered boxing from a notorious amateur career. Professionalism only came in 2013 and today adds 14 fights in this condition. For their 31 years, they seem little and nobody knows if at some point they spend the bill. The work that he has led to defeat Mairis Briedis, perhaps, give reason to skeptics about the true potential of Usyk
But there are other factors Will there be traces of the injury that prevented the fight in Arabia? We do not know, but leading this fight with a bag of so many millions was a priority for Usyk. It would not be unreasonable to imagine that, on this side, it could give an advantage. He would not be the first to hide the seriousness of an injury in similar circumstances. Just remember Manny Pacquiao when he faced Floyd Mayweather
To this must be added a non-minor fact badociated with a possible side effect of his injury: Usyk carries a very high action load and very little time, fourth fight in 14 months
The Ukrainian stands as a favorite in this fight, but these are factors that call into question his favoritism, especially if we consider that he must fight on Russian soil against a Russian
.
Usyk is smarter from a technical point of view than Gbadiev, he has a good defense, he knows how to take advantage of his offensive opportunities by placing his shots at the right time and in a precise manner. No doubt, it will be this Saturday. Work the center ring's fight, avoiding the powerful right of his rival, moving in a way that is his left-handed guard that complicates the pressure to Gbadiev, backing up when he's attacking and seeking to punish him in the middle zone to carry him or take him in with direct hits to the chin.
The variety of alternatives that the Ukrainian can deploy, surely, will have led to prepare a round of twelve rounds. It's hard to imagine that with his skill set, the judges will avoid victory in the cards.
Murat Gbadiev – who trains in California under Abel Sanchez – still bases his strategy on the power of the punch, finding that the exact limit to punish and destroy will always be his goal In this plan, the most important and the most transcendent is your patience: never lose your calm and read the adversary very clearly, like a beast lurking. He has therefore gone more and more so that the pressure will allow him to fight hard against Denis Lebedev, or to liquidate in three rounds Krzysztof Wlodarczyk with a hook in the central area or give him the center of the ring and the role of Yunier Dorticos to knock him out in the last episode.
Before Usyk, surely, he will raise a fight similar to that which gave him the victory against the Cuban. It will initially give the initiative to the Ukrainian, obliging him to take risks and wait for an error or surprise him with quick and energetic answers.
It's a very difficult fight. However, the latest fights of the two can serve as a parameter for what could happen this Saturday. Gbadiev, from a defensive position throughout the match, had a powerful advantage to finish with the Cuban in the last lap. However, Usyk did not seem so dominant against Breidis, seemed to lack arguments and was close to suffering a setback.
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