Ahead of Mikey Garcia, Errol Spence Jr, Naoya Inue or Carl Frampton amongst others lol. Not hating, he is young and a really good fighter, but he is Top 25 p4p as best
The Spence question is a good one, should he rank higher or lower than Spence? Their resumes are compatible/close.
Isnt it Boxrec that works off some sort of point scoring system which doesnt really work when talking pound 4 pound?
Fair enough, the WBSS is imo the biggest accomplishment in boxing right now but it's shame that Benavidez, Ramirez and DeGale (before he was shot) weren't in the tournament.
Well, let's see IMHO Spence's is way better. Top 5 Spence wins: Brook Peterson Algieri Bundu Van Heerden Top 5 Smith wins: Groves Skoglund Fielding Mohoumadi Holzken IMO Brook is a better win than Groves, both were close fights until the stopage. With all the circunstances (eye shocket broken, coming of a painful lose...) Brook had only been beaten once and against the middleweight king GGG, he had a big win vs Porter while Groves best wins is razor close decision vs DeGale and an UD against overhyped Eubank jr. Peterson is also a better win than Skoglund, ex-world champ with wins vs Amir Khan, Felix Diaz, Avanesyan and a close lose against Danny Garcia. Skoglund is a nice boxer, but doesnt have a strong resume his best wins are Liebenberg or Mock. Skoglund gave to Smith all he could handle and Peterson was knocked out easily by Spence jr Algieri might be a slighty better name than Fielding, he is an ex world champ with a robbery win vs Provodnikov, Fielding did well against Zeuge, but apart from that he only holds a notable win in Ryder, and that was a close fight that could have gone either way. Bundu and Mohoumadi are both ex EBU champs, Spence and Smith knocked out both respectively, but Bundu KO was by far more unexpected since he went 12 rounds vs Thurman although by knocking out tough Mohomadi in the first round Smith made a statement Holzken is an ATG kickboxer and was Top 10 p4p when Smith fought him, but in terms of boxing Van Heerden was by far more proven, so IMO it was a better win. Also Holzken gave some problems to Smith and Spence clearly dominated Van Heerden
I want Bivol @168, he is a small light heavy, if Smith can make 168, it would be easier for Bivol to do it. Bivol vs Smith, make it happen Eddie
I don't really object to him being above Frampton. Is going both ways with LSC really that much more impressive than stopping Groves?
I thought the same about spence, apart from brook his resume is average at best. He does look a good fighter though.
Resume wise he might be better than Spence, that's open to argument. Skill wise Spence is a better boxer. Although two of them are weight bullies in their division... Smith looks two division bigger and Spence only one.
My method of rating p4p would have Smith @ 10 or there abouts, just outside The only reason he isn't higher is because he's picking on smaller blokes which is the opposite of p4p. In terms of his division I don't think many would be as clearly better @ the weight. I don't watch midgets fight but 147 up only Usyk would have a better claim. Spence has Crawford Hurd has Jermell 160 is a relatively even division as is 175 and heavyweight has the big 3. @ 168 Smith is head and shoulders above atm