I've rewatched the round where Smith lands that huge overhand right that partially landed and rocked Bivol at the very end of the round. And I know I'm a huge Smith Jr. fan, but I just know what I saw. Bivol was totally and completely rocked. Just had no clue where he was, had his hands down, wasn't able to defend himself and disoriented. I'm telling you Bivol was ready to go. I really wish Smith had been able to develop his skills. I think he is p4p the hardest puncher in the sport.
He's definitely a BIG banger . Hopkins is basically knockout proof but Joe Smith Jr knocked the Alien back into Outer Space!
It's sort of lost and forgotten about. Smith isn't exactly the most creative or accurate puncher so I don't know if he would have been able to land that finisher if Bivol wasn't saved by the bell. But when your opponent is rocked to the point where he turns his back, hands are down, he's wobbling all over the ring and he likely doesn't even know where he is, then it can't be that hard to land another punch.
He turns fights around with 1 punch. Totally changes the momentum of a fight with one punch consistently virtually every fight. Probably more so than any current fighter out there right now.
Yes that was the punch right on the bell. Bivol admitted after the fight that he didnt know where he was when it landed. Alot of the impact of that shot came because he didnt see it coming It took him part of the following round to recover from it too. Having said all of that Bivol put on a boxing masterclass, and completely dominated Smith.
Hard to say he dominated a man he couldn't even hurt with a sledgehammer. Yea he won wide on the cards, but it's not like he was in there giving Smith a beatdown. The only guy who did any damage was Smith and if Bivol wasn't saved by the bell he would have been one with the canvas about 5 seconds later. Bivol has nice skills, but has no power.
He was definitely saved by the bell. And the question here is did he lose focus too early just expecting that the round’s almost over? It think that’s possible.
It was a frustrating night. Smith is most dangerous on the inside where the ref did not let them fight. Meanwhile Bivol could have forced a KO but just wouldn't even try.
How many rounds of that fight did Smith Jr win? He won only 1 round the 11th - that is a dominant win in my book.
Smith will always be a live dog in any fight given his one punch power. If he had some decent skills to go along with the power he would be champ.
Well the question should rather be how close was he to get knocked down. Answer is very. But close to being knocked out is more than a little premature. He was obviously not in any great danger of losing the fight.
i always said smithy was one hell of a puncher he hits so ****ing hard Bivol was hurt badly and was saved by the bell
The punch came high on the side of the forehead, above the ear. It was an equilibrium shot. Nothing to do with the jaw. He came out the next minute his legs intact. Had the bell not sounded, Smith might have connected more or not, and Bivol could have been really hurt. Alas, we'll never know, as he absorbed that shot impressively in the minute break.
