Joe Smith Jr. vs. Maxim Sergeyevich Vlasov & Efe Ajagba vs. Brian Howard RBR.

Joe came on strong in the 11th and 12th. The 'rabbit' punch should have been a KD as Vlasov ducked his head after Smith threw the punch. Most likely it shoulda ended up an 11th rd ko for Smith as Vlasov was shot before the punch that the ref called 'back of the head'. Vlasov subsequently got several minutes to recover.

 

That's another tried and true tactic.
Beterbiev is 36, Smith is 31.

Just wait for Beterbiev to get old.

 

Beterbiev will get the next Covid variant delaying the fight with Smith.

 

I'm a Vlasov fan now. Slick white Russian skills, like a LH Pirog.

 

Beterbiev already had Covid.

He is not the same fighter anymore, but will still KO Smith Jr.

 

Classic hometown cooking by Bob Arum.

Joe Smith Jr is their next star and Arum has talked about his favouritism towards Smith Jr. He wants him to be the next "blue collar American" star.

Don't be surprised if he pulls the same stunt against Beterbiev. Or tries to anyway....

......only for it to backfire and Beterbiev knocks out Joe Smith Jr anyway

 

Mental that, a big cruiser that can drop 25lb and be strong at 175. I’m shocked

 

When was the last time a B boxer side was the beneficiary of a robbery win?

 

Ive never seen somebody given time to recover after taking a punch to the back of the head. That was a ridiculous call by the ref to allow Vlasov go to the ropes and recover from the wind Smiths body attack had sucked out of him.. Ok fair enough to not call it as a kd , but giving him time to recover was outrageous.

Smith would have scored a legit knockdown in that round had it not been for the refs incompetence. Maybe even a stoppage.

Even though I thought Vlasov just nicked it , the fight was close and could have gone either way. But Smith was denied an opportunity to capitalize on all the hard work he produced so I don't really have an issue wit the result on that basis.

 

Didn't get to comment here because I was watching it with my mates, but Joe shouldn't have got that decision really. Close fight that could've gone his way but ultimately the Russian should've won.

 

Gotcha, you’re trolling, carry on.

 

I'm late to report, but here is how I scored it.

116-112 in favor of Vlasov.

No 10-8 rounds and I gave Rds 2, 7, 11, and 12 to Joe Smith.

To get there:

• I chose to give Joe Smith Round 2 on the basis of landing a couple big shots. Vlasov outworked him - so I wouldn't be ticked off if somebody gave Vlasov that round
• I gave Joe Smith Round 12 - but that round was close. Definitely reasonable to give that to Vlasov instead of Joe.
• I did not deduct a point from Smith for the rabbit punch. Seemed pretty reasonable that a ref should. I haven't re-watched that incident, though. I don't really ever score 10-8 rounds without a knockdown unless it's really, really clear that fighter got saved by the bell. Not the case here.
• I don't see how Joe gets the 4th or 8th rounds. He spent most of the latter winging big shots, missing, and gassing himself.

So, yes, 116-112 for Vlasov. But I think it's actually more reasonable to score this as wide as 118-109 for Vlasov (see above) then to score it 115-113 for Vlasov or any other score more in favor of Joe Smith Jr.

So put me in the group that calls the judge's official scoring "robbery".

 

Bivol-Vlasov would be a chess match.