Artur Kyshenko vS. Gago Drago promoclip

It's Showtime just released the promoclip for their event in Amsterdam on March 6th. As you know, Artur will fight Gago Drago there. Here's the clip:

Looking at the fight card, you can see this is another 70Kg fight for Artur. This means he'll have to cut weight again, which could prove to be problematic:
 Kyshenko fought reasonably well  at -72.5Kg against Öberg, better than in his previous fights. He looked a little soft in that fight, so the extra couple pounds probably helped. If he has to cut weight hard to get below 70Kg. he might come in lacking stamina again.
When you go up against Drago, that's not a good thing. Drago has a tremendous work ethic in the ring: he may not have the biggest punch but he keeps on working from the first second until the final bell sounds.
Check out his latest fight against Yavuz Kabayashi on December 11s:

He eats a full knee in the last round, just gets back up and works hard.

Kyshenko needs to be in great shape to avoid getting steamrolled by Gago. Given that his conditioning has been problematic this year, it'll be interesting to see if he can pull it off at -70Kg.


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Artur Kyshenko vs. Gago Drago on the 6th of March 2011 at It's Showtime

This just in:
"It's Showtime" is hosting it's next big event on March 6th of 2011 in Amsterdam. Artur Kyshenko will face Gago Drago for the first time at that event. If you don't know who Drago is, here's a clip:

 

Prediction:
Drago is a bit of a wild card. He can do great things and he can mess things up in an equally great way. For a long time, he was all about aggression and forward pressure. It seemed he didn't know any other direction than going forward. Taking the offensive is of course very important but not at the detriment of other strategies. And that's where Gago often ran into trouble against good fighters. If you look at his fight record, you'll notice he has almost as many losses as he has wins in the last few years. To give him credit, it seems he's becoming more well-rounded lately, which makes him even more unpredictable.

His greatest assets are tremendous fighting spirit and physical fitness. He just doesn't give up. You have to knock him out to stop the guy or he'll just keep coming at you.

Given that Artur's fitness is still unsure, this could prove to be the key to the match. If Drago can keep the pressure up from start to finish, the Kyshenko we've seen in most fights this year will not be able to hold on. But if Artur improves upon his endurance as he already demonstrated against Ölberg, he has a good chance of winning. Especially if he keeps up the way he used his power shots in that fight.

Knocking out Gago is probably going to be difficult. So unless he gets in a perfect shot (like his amazing left hook) Kyshenko probably wins on points.

Artur Kyshenko vs. Marcus Öberg

Artur Kyshenko vs Marcus Öberg

 2010-11-27
Scandinavia, Rumble of Kings
Stockholm Sweden.

Fight Analysis:

As you can see in the video, Artur starts the first round looking sharp and hungry, more so than we've seen him in his last few fights. Just look at his face right before the round starts: he's pissed off and totally focused.
He immediately starts stalking Öberg and throws a couple of hard shots to set the pace. Öberg doesn't seem impressed and tries to get in the game along with Artur. That works fine until Kyshenko counters perfectly against a one-two combination: when Marcus doesn't bring his right hand back to his guard, Artur nails him with a left hook, hard.
Öberg deserves a lot of credit for hanging in there because that could have been the end of the fight right there. Though this is clearly where the balance of the fight tips over in favor of Kyshenko. But he recovers and even lands a nice spinning back kick. But he does get nailed again in the closing seconds of the round.

In round two, the fight is on. Kyshenko brings out the big bombs and tries to chop Marcus down. Öberg on the other hand knows he's in trouble and tries to turn the fight into a brawl, bringing it right to Kyshenko. It goes back and forth until Kyshenko lands a perfect cross to the body; you can see Marcus wince as it lands. As a result, Artur throws a couple more body shots that visibly hurt his opponent.  Despite the pressure, Marcus lands a solid spinning back fist that shakes Kyshenko. But he replies with a series of leg kicks that all land and a few well placed punches.
Artur gets knocked down when Öberg throws a spinning elbow (which is prohibited)  but he gets back up and the round soon ends.

You can see both men are getting tired when round three starts but Artur is still strong enough to remain very aggressive. This pays off because he manages to score two more knock downs with his left hook. Öberg is clearly no longer in the fight, even though he tries to hang on. But Kyshenko has his number and keeps throwing power shots, never letting his opponent get back into the game again.

A clear win for Kyshenko.

The left hook that changed it all.

Strengths:

• Artur was in much better shape than in his last fights. His endurance has clearly improved.
• His left hook is still devastating and he knows how to place it. 
• Kyshenko is feared for his punches to the body and this fight proves his excellence in that area once again. Öberg was visibly in pain when Artur landed some of his shots.
  

Weaknesses:

•  His endurance is still not good enough. It was better than before, but not at the level where it should be. He should be able to go full tilt for three rounds straight.
• Despite Öberg repeatedly throwing a good left knee, Artur doesn't defend enough against it. He's very lucky he didn't get KOed by it because it came close to hitting the button several times. 
• Artur's defensive footwork was almost nonexistent. At his best, he's able to move around the ring with speed and ease, making opponents miss at his leasure. But here, he just kept walking forward and as a result sometimes walked right into a punch. 

Conclusion:

It looks like Artur's decision to change gyms is paying off. He looked a lot better than in his previous fights and was much more aggressive. Especially in the first round, he looked like his former self again: clean, crisp and precise. But it was sad to see his endurance was still not good enough to keep him at that level throughout the fight. And that's just not going to cut it against guys like Petrosyan or Sauwer who do have the endurance for an all out brawl.

All in all, this was a good fight for Artur and he's clearly on the right track. Mike Passenier seems to have succeeded in making Kyshenko more aggressive again, which paid off in this fight. Though it's too soon to tell how Artur will develop as a fighter now that he's getting used to a new coach.

Perhaps it's best to be cautiously optimistic right now: Kyshenko is definitly moving in the right direction. Let's hope he keeps on improving his endurance and fight game so we can look forward to his upcoming fights.