Comments Thread For: DeGuardia: Beterbiev Was Hitting To The Back Of The Head; We Were Concerned About That

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

NEW YORK - Joe Smith Jr.'s longtime promoter applauded Artur Beterbiev's superb performance Saturday night. As precise as the powerful Beterbiev was with his punches against Smith, Joe DeGuardia nevertheless noticed that the unbeaten IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion continued to land shots on the back of Smith's head. Smith's team asked referee Harvey Dock to be mindful of Beterbiev's prohibited rabbit punches prior to their 12-round, 175-pound title unification bout at Madison Square Garden's Hulu Theater.
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[Chollo Vista]

He did it against Gvod as well

The way he loops his shots at close range is no accident they land to the back of the head

And no the opponent is not forcing him or positioning themselves to be hit behind the head. It's a tactic by Artur

[rudy]

How stupid Smith turned his back no wonder get hit back of the head let me guess he wants a rematch

[Boxing Goat]

Poor excuse and I was hoping Smith won

[SchoolTheseCats]

I had beterbiev to win by ko but was screaming at tv seeing so many punches land behind head and only getting one warning from it… his hooks have a loop to it that it happens quite a lot in his fights

[mxtali]

It’s been happening. He knows what he’s doing in there because they look borderline

[VegasRaiders]

Beterviev and Jaron Ennis both use this dirty tactic.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Beterviev and Jaron Ennis both use this dirty tactic.

Boots isn't intentionally doing it - he throws in a way that tries to anticipate where his opponent's face is going to be, and he gets it wrong quite often (rabbit punch) - which is why we don't rate Boots like NSB and the majority of the boxing community. He's explosive, which makes him sloppy and the fans eat it up. Crawford does the same thing, Rolly does the same thing, etc.

With Beterbiev? It MIGHT be intentional, because his precision is well known. He wouldn't make those kinds of silly mistakes.

[CasperUK]

Where?

[Combat Talk Radio]

Where?

That very first shot is questionably close. Behind the ear but very close to the sensitive area.

The second shot is temple - not a rabbit but looked like it at first.

Third shot is temple - not a rabbit but again, VERY close to the sensitive area.

Fourth is the controversial one; it's arguably a rabbit punch. Not intentional; but if this were Joe Cortez reffing that, Joe Smith would have won the belts (Soto/Lorenzo 1) and Mauro Ranallo would have been the one near dying on the air instead of Manny Steward.