I have a gut feeling that Smith will upset Beterbiev and win

Some people are picking Smith. Smith is a big puncher and has the power to hurt Artur. The problem for Smith against Bivol was he couldn't really land on Bivol because Bivol has such good defense and is so supremely skilled. Artur isn't as skilled or as defensively sound as Bivol. He's much easier to hit and land on than Bivol. Artur has been dropped before and if he gets dropped by Smith he might not get up.

 

#MeToo

37 years and 6 month's old Artur Beterbiev....

Time's up!

 

Beterbiev in brutal KO. Smith's suspect defense will be exploited.

 

A mildly annoyed Beterbiev sounds dangerous, an upset Beterbiev sounds scary.

 

I don't know why it took him a while to dispose of them. They didn't pose much of a danger to him.
Maybe Smith will last 9 or 10 too

 

We'll see what happens and who's right in this case.
I can't see past a Beterbiev KO.

 

I already bet Smith a couple of weeks ago at +750. He's live here. I think he wins this. Beterbiev is old, had a lot of bad injuries which diminished his ability to throw punches so he clearly lost some of his thudding power and he was hurt and dropped before by big punchers - and that's what Joe Smith Jr is - one of the biggest punchers P4P. I think if Smith shows up in great shape and with the right mindset he can outbox Artur and he can hurt him too. Smith' boxing is actually underrated. People still see the left hook heavy brawler but he's much more than that. He improved a lot and ya he's still a bit limited and crude and he'll never be a slick boxer but his ability to win fights isn't just to one punch people with the death touch, he can also win rounds with the jab.

 

The reason Artur's opponents have lasted longer is because he has started slower, having confidence in his power and becoming more conservative. I would be very surprised if AB doesn't stop JS. But he is 37 now, 5 years older than Smith.

 

Unquentionably Smith has had some good moments, but he remains a largely-uneducated slugger.

Smith definitely has power and we know that Beterbiev is a slow-starter who has a bit of a penchant for being caught with a big shot in the early rounds. So it is not itoo unlikely that Smith could floor Beterbiev in the first few rounds.

But if Gvozdyk couldn't finish Artur early, I don't see Smith doing it.

Once Artur wakes up - Smith is in big trouble.

Smith is really poor at properly managing the distance between himself and his opponent. We saw that with Sullivan Berrera and more recently with Maxim Vlasov (who I thought should have been given a wide UD win over Smith). And Smith tends to go on wild head-hunting expeditions that often leave him gassed.

These are particularly bad traits to have when your opponent is Beterbiev. You don't want to find Artur in your grill and he's perfectly capable of making you pay for missing.

Assuming Artur hasn't gotten old overnight (which IS a risk), I am picking Artur by TKO somewhere around Rds 5-7.