Ivan Baranchyk picks up a win after devastating loss!
Former IBF super lightweight champion and World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) #4 seed Ivan “The Beast” Baranchyk (20-1, 13 KO’s) makes “quick work” of the over-matched Gabriel “Tito” Bracero (25-4-1, 6 KO’s). The short, sloppy bout was for the vacant WBA inter-continental super lightweight title.
It was the only bout that Tito had fought in 2019 and his first in roughly a year and a half.
Right from the opening bell, it was clear Baranchyk was solely focused on taking his Brooklyn foe’s head off. The hard-hitting Russian went after Bracero like he spit in his sister’s morning oatmeal. The Beast threw his jab and any other set up punches out the window.
Instead of working his way in, he bulled his into punching range and exclusively threw home-run hooks and uppercuts.
Perhaps Baranchyk was hell-bent on claiming a stoppage coming off his lone professional defeat to Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor (15-0, 12 KO’s). The Beast dropped a hard fought unanimous decision loss to Taylor earlier this year in May and was bounced out of the WBSS along with losing his title.
The first round was extremely sloppy and saw both men on the canvas several times even though zero knockdowns were charged. The Beast began landing more in the second period, but was still overly aggressive and not disguising any of his power shots. Bracero appeared far less squirrelly in this stanza and even found some success with his own jab.
While caught in the corner at the beginning of the fourth round, the Brooklyn born fighter got caught with several stiff hooks and uppercuts. The strikes were hard enough to force him to hold on to his attacker. When referee Arthur Mercante Jr moved in to break them, Bracero took an apparent cheap shot at Baranchyk. Mercante Jr took the time to give him a stern warning for the underhanded move.
As soon as the action resumed the Beast connected with another solid hook that shakes Bracero up. Once again he holds onto the his opponent who tries to back up out of his reach. As the Beast retreats, Bracero is drug to the floor. Even though he makes it to his feet his own corner calls the bout off.
While congrats can go out to Baranchyk, this was not the most impressive showing. The hard-charging Russian proved once again that he has power, however, he displayed virtually no world class fundamentals or any significant adjustments. In essence, he seemed to not have learned anything form his first defeat.
It will be interesting to see who the passionate boxer is placed in the ring with next.
By: Bakari Simpson
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