On The Watch “It’s All About Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith Jr.”

Light Heavyweight Unification Showdown

Last night’s intriguing Top Rank/ESPN Main Event between IBF/WBC/Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 Kos) and WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Joe Smith Jr. (28-4, 22 Kos) left the fans in attendance  with their jaws dropping by the total destruction witnessed at the hands of Beterbiev at the Madison Square Garden Hulu Theater.

I anticipated a stoppage happening throughout this bout but this total annihilation by Beterbiev took me by surprise. Artur is usually a slow starter but, on this night, he came out gunslinging with his hands of stone geared up to do some serious damage.

Joe, who is also known for his power in both hands, was caught off guard by the early aggressiveness of Beterbiev. Joe attempted to go blow for blow from the first round but felt the wrath of Beterbiev’s power late in the round when he suddenly got clipped for a quick 8 count with barely any time left but survived the round.

In the second round, Beterbiev wasted no time and went straight for the kill shot by landing straight right hands to the dome of Joe that dropped him for another quick 8 count but he bounced right back up to only get dropped seconds later by another right to the dome for another quick 8 count.


Beterbiev was in seek and destroy mode from this point on and continued to administer an onslaught of unanswered straight punches to the dome that shocked Joe so hard off balance that the referee jumped in and stopped the fight after seeing how badly hurt Joe was, wondering around spaced out inside that squared circle.

Beterbiev just took down the second hardest puncher in the Light Heavyweight Division and made it look easyyyyy. With this destructive win Artur has now snatched the WBO Belt from Joe Smith Jr. and retained his IBF/WBC and Ring Magazine Belt, leaving the WBA Super Belt held by Dmitry Bivol as the only missing piece to become Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol for Undisputed is the right fight to make but only time will tell if the possibility of this match up can ever come into fruition.

Until then, congratulations Artur on another conclusive win and getting one step closer at achieving your goal of Undisputed.

Blaze

On The Watch “It’s All About Joe Smith Jr.” vs Maxim Vlasov”

Vacant WBO Light Heavyweight Championship

Last night’s Top Rank Main Event card between Joe Smith Jr. (27-3, 21 Kos) and Maxim Vlasov at the Osage Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma was better than I expected with a lot of action from start to finish.

Judging by how the bout was going from round to round, I personally believe that Joe underestimated Maxim’s boxing ability inside that squared circle. Maxim’s speed, constant movement and unorthodox style made Joe look amateurish at times.

That being said, whenever Joe did land his punches, he made sure Maxim felt every ounce of them. I gotta tip my “B” hat to Maxim for the way that he fought. This Dude is definitely tougher than he looks. He took Joe’s power punches well and kept it moving as the rounds were piling up.

Maxim’s durability kept things very interesting inside that squared circle. Maxim may not have had the power compared to Joe but he definitely boxed a great fight on the night. Maxim pressed Joe enough round by round to make things very difficult to call but to the Judges, Joe’s power shots may have been the defining factor.

After 12 rounds of non-stop action the Judges scored it 115-112, 115-113, 114-1114, majority decision all in favor of Joe Smith Jr. Personally, it was a very close bout that could have went either way.

With this win Joe Smith Jr. becomes the New WBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the world.

Congratulations Joe on your latest achievement, you have officially reached the top of the mountain. Now on to a Unification bout with IBF/WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev.

Blaze

On The Watch “It’s All About Eleider Alvarez vs Joe Smith Jr.”

WBO Light Heavyweight Title Eliminator

Last night’s Top Rank main event between Eleider Alvarez (25-2, 13 Kos) and Joe Smith Jr. (26-3, 21 Kos) at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, was well worth the wait. Real Talk!

This bout was non-stop action straight from the jump. Joe Smith who’s well known for having heavy hands held no punches throughout the night and displayed some great boxing improvement to go along with a flawless “game plan” that highlighted his strengths round by round.

Alvarez who was the more polished boxer of the two, played right into Joe Smith’s “game plan” and fell victim to his traps. The last thing you want to do when facing Jo Smith is to sit there and go toe to toe “phone booth” style with him. That is just what Alvarez did and he paid the price for it.

Personally, I was confused by Alvarez’s approach from the jump. Alvarez being the superior boxer of the two looked to bang it out with the wrong Dude on that night when he should have been boxing in and out, disrupting Smith’s come forward aggressive style.

Alvarez, not being able to do the proper adjustments inside that squared circle, caused him to get caught up in Joe’s physical roughness tactics. It was evident that Smith’s power was just too much for Alvarez to handle.

Joe’s pressure eventually overwhelmed Alvarez in the ninth round when Eleider succumbed to a hard right-left combination that dropped him down through the ropes for the count that prompted the referee to wave off the bout.

It was a very competitive bout and an impressive performance by Smith, who clearly showed vast improvement in his skill. With this strong win Joe advances to fight the winner of another WBO Light Heavyweight Elimination bout between contenders Umar Salamov (25-1, 19 Kos) and Maksim Vlasov (45-3, 26 Kos) for the vacant WBO Light Heavyweight Title.

Until then, congratulations on your amazing win Joe- job well done.

Blaze