The week of his fight against Joe Smith Jr., a short video circulated of one of Artur Beterbiev’s training sessions. This time, it wasn’t one of the torturous sessions he’s become known for, the ones with circus strongman-type feats. No push-ups on his wrists, no juggling an Olympic lifting bar or using the ab wheel with his feet. This time it was a simple video, shared by No Nonsense Boxing, just Beterbiev in front of the wall-mounted uppercut bag throwing one punch over and over. One after another, Beterbiev would slip his head to the right and throw a jab with the tiniest bit of arc to it, as if it were coming over top of a right hand coming at him, or perhaps to disguise it as a hook. Every punch that landed sounded like an explosion in the empty gym, as the ambidextrous light heavyweight champion showed off the perks of having destructive power in both hands, of being able to harm a top-level opponent with just a jab.
