He's done. He's where Sergio Martinez was when he was fighting the likes of Murray & Cotto imo.. probably emptied his tank versus yarde and gave us a shambolic canelo fight where he looked weak as pish versus a MW who hasn't KOd anyone at or north of 160 worth a ****
Kovalev probably outboxes Smith for a couple of rounds before getting caught and finished. Wouldn't totally count him out though but chances are he's totally finished and gets KO'd in the first half of the fight.
I'd say if he goes in with the point fighting style he's recently adopted, Smith will eventually get him. But if he goes in to take Smith out, he has the skill to take Smith out and I'd back him, but might be in trouble if he fails to do so in the first two thirds of the fight.
Smith is though as hell. If Kovalev goes all out from the beginning he will gas just the way he did vs Alvarez.
As it stands right now, Smith is in line to face the Vlasov-Salamov winner for the vacant belt. But that fight is dealing with Visa issues.
Good fight! I’d pick smith to stop kovalev now though. how good are vlasov and salamov? does smith beat those two?
I seriously doubt Kovalev would take a fight with Smith at this stage of his life,,does anyone think he'd fare well against the strongest hardest puncher he's ever faced at his age?
I'm a fan of Joe Smith Jr, he's a hard working blue collar pure fighter and looked extremely good in his last fight. Kovalev got knocked out by a midget in his last fight and his confidence and fragility are compromised. There's only 2 possibilities, Joe Smith knocks him out with his crushing power or Kovalev outboxes him with his world class jab and becomes 3 time LHW champ? I'm leaning towards a Kovalev UD if Kovalev has a good training camp and comes in motivated.
Would like to see it. Kovalev would box smart and outbox Smith but I think Smith would catch him at somepoint and itd be gameover. Kovalev is done, his pumch resistance ia gone, hes lost his hunger and has been embroiled in domestic disputes and claims of alcohol addiction for years now. Smiths a hard working, never give up fighter with a good chin, high workrate and dynamite in his hads. Not the best match for a 37 year past prime fighter whose been KOd several times in the last few years.
Kovalev has never exactly been hard to hit, and his chin has deteriorated. I see Smith scoring a brutal KO that probably ends Kovalev's career.
Kovalev right now, crashes and burns. He'd have to take his career seriously and have a proper camp etc but I think he's mentally checked out. Prime Kovalev destroys him like a bug.