Just watched some Joe Smith Jr fights, and I can see why Hopkin's chose him as his supposed final opponent. The good.... He hits hard, with both hands. I've seen decent left hooks, even a right uppercut here and there. But outside of that I don't see anything he excels at, and he makes a lot of glaring mistakes. Shuts off in the ring sometimes. He gets sloppy. So so footwork. He marks up easily. Hittable. He actually seems like a very poor finisher outside of the Fonfara fight. He hurts opponents and then attempts to club them to death like a parkinson syndrome sufferer trying to club a rabbit to death. Seems to prefer a really wide over the top right hand that's probably going to be his undoing against Hopkins. People saw it drop Fonfara with his hands down and were impressed. Hopkin's probably saw it and thought "I can just dip under 125 predictable Smith right hands and then retire!". Joe seems to rely on that shot and Hopkin's is going to counter it and stay outside of range all night. Anyone else feel this way or am I alone here?
Honestly, the Eddie Caminero fight answered a lot of my questions. It's on youtube (And takes place in a high school gym?) Smith Jr hurts him early, and then has the momentum taken from him, is backed up and eventually stopped on a broken jaw. Just poor stuff, again, outside of the power.
Would be hilarious. I favor Hopkins in this fight because Smith Jr is a limited boxer who just caught a careless Fonfara. I'd definitely favor the Polish guy over him in a rematch, and by stoppage as well. But last stoppage Hopkins had was well over a decade ago, and the man is like 131 years old. (Frank Sinatra told me that once in a barbershop).
Hopkins hasn't had a stoppage since he was in his 30s, back in 2004 vs Oscar De La Hoya. Hopkins getting a stoppage at this point would seem unlikely but stranger things have happened. I can't see how Hopkins will be able to generate much offense let alone getting his man in trouble. He may try to eek out a decision with Smith Jr with Smith Jr chasing Hopkins and Hopkins trying to make the guy miss and surprise him with some counters. Any chance of a Hopkins stoppage would depend on how aggressive Smith Jr is.
I can't imagine Hopkins wants to end a legitimately legendary career with a boring win. Or maybe I'm underestimating how low Hopkin's will stoop for a win. Smith just throws punches with such abandon, while at the same time not being very durable. He's going to get hit, and a lot. A styles thing, he's not going to stand off like Shumenov. Guys just going to keep wading in getting hit again and again. He isn't even a Shumenov level fighter if we're going to be honest. He had a flukey first round win against a guy who's been caught by hitters before... before that he was mixing it up in a boxing scene limited to long island or wherever. Small, small pond.
