Props to liam smith, judging his performance

Props to Beefy for coming to fight and trying to walk down Canelo and make this fight a toe-to-toe war with Canelo.

At times it was a toe-to-toe war, there was some good action, and it was entertaining while it lasted. But I think Smith knows he let an opportunity slip here.

Going into the fight, Liam was known to be sometimes a slow starter, but once he settles in to the fight is known to get better as the fight wore on. In the 1st round, Canelo was more aggressive than usual, but it wasn't surprising with him being the challenger. I think Round 1 saw Smith being really dominated, like he just wasn't really into the fight yet. He took some big punches, seemed to take them well but tactically Smith just seemed to have no idea what was going on.

However, starting in Round 2, it was clear that Beefy had better tactics, and he started to get used to Canelo's style, and he started the round much better than the 1st and he was getting himself into the fight. I thought Round 2 was a very very close round that I thought Beefy actually did enough to win it. Round 3 was a good round for Canelo, but it was competative with both guys landing and it was clear that Beefy trying to make this a fight.

Round 4 was very close as well. Both guys exchanging blows and it was really a very back and forth round. Hard to score these rounds for Beefy, as it was clear that Canelo had the better quality punches, but in terms of punches landed, it was very even.

Now, at this point I felt like Beefy was in the fight, but I got the sense that he was a better fighter than he was showing. After the fight he said that he wasn't able to spar for weeks due to a cut he sustained in August. This may sound like an excuse, but I think this makes sense. Because it almost seemed like Beefy was trying to fight off ring rust due to the lack of sparring.

I thought that Beefy is actually an even better fighter than he showed vs Canelo, and he could have done better in this fight. But still he was doing well enough to make it a fight, and he deserves props.

Canelo is obvioulsy on a different level than him, but due to his style he could have given Canelo even more problems. And basically what I'm saying is I became a fan of Beefy in this fight due to how he fights. He comes forward, doesn't take a step back, he wants to go to war and tries to fight 3 minutes of every round, and he did have some moments where he landed some big shots on Canelo.

I really think he brought out the best in Canelo, because his come forward go-to-war style made it exciting for the fans. We've seen Canelo fight a lot of skilled outboxers and it was good to see Canelo fight a skilled infighter for a change. Not just an infighter that is a brawler like Kirkland, but an infighter with skill who had good blocking like Beefy had.

I think Beefy was gutted after the fight because though he gave full effort, he could have done even better had he started the 1st round better tactically. From the opening bell Canelo just started teeing off on dude, which really set the tone for the fight and made it a very uphill battle for Beefy.

In round 5 and 6, Beefy had some of his best moments, especially towards the end of the 5th when he really got himself into a fight. At times it seemed like Canelo covering up and letting Beefy punch himself out, but it made for some good action.

Early on in Round 6 is when I saw the fight change and Canelo started to take over. Beefy landed a good series of punches and then Canelo came back and started to be more aggressive again sensing that this guy could do some damage. Later we found out that Canelo hurt his right hand early in the fight, and was relying more on the left, and it became a showcase of Canelo's versatility.

So what do you think of Liam's performance. Do you agree that Beefy was timid in round 1 and then he started to warm up in rounds 2-5. Canelo really put on a boxing clinic in there, this was one of his best performances, especially considering he hurt his right hand.

I'm not saying Beefy was capable of beating Canelo, as Canelo's quality is world class, but I do respect Beefy's style as a tough-as-nails guy who wants to stand toe-to-toe and go to war with you.

Honestly had this fight been in London, we may have seen a better performance from Smith. We got to remember, this was his first fight in the States and he fought in front of over 50,000 people. I mean he said he wasn't fazes by the crowd, but I still think nerves affected him throughout the fight, and this wasn't exactly the best version of Smith.

Not to take anything away from Canelo, as this was a big step up and that's understandable, but I think Beefy is gutted because he knows he could have done better. He was a bit unlucky I think with the first knockdown, even the 2nd knockdown was a delayed reaction. I think you got to give Canelo an immense amount of credit for being patient and waiting for Liam to punch so Canelo could set up a body punch.

I mean I think Smith could have clinched and stalled and went 12 rounds but decided to have a crack at Canelo on the ropes and in doing so left his body open. Canelo is able to absorb body punches much better than Beffy. Beefy is much thinner in the body and Canelo took advantage. Had Beefy started the fight better perhaps he wouldn't of had to go so balls to the wall and wouldn't have left his body open like he did.

I think Beefy just got caught up in the moment and really tried to make this a war. At times it seemed a little bit like Ali vs Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle where Canelo was like Ali trying to Rope a Dope Beefy to set up that big punch in between Beefy's punches.

All in all I just wanted to give Beefy props for taking this fight and making this a war only I felt that nerves and the big stage sort of took him out of his usual game, and of course Canelo's quality which proved to be too much.

Beefy definetly gained a fan tonight, and I think this experience will make him better in the future. I could see Beefy take on Kell Brook or something at 154 possibly for the vacant WBO title if Canelo moves up to 160, or as just a fight to become #1 contender.

I wonder if Beefy sustained that cut in sparring with Kell Brook which would make an interesting backdrop for a Beefy vs Brook fight after seeing that sparring footage. Another interesting U.K. domestic fight at 154 could be Beefy vs Amir Khan, which would be interesting because we know Khan is chinny and Beefy could possibly test that chin.

Beefy has good blocking and I think he's really a tough guy to stop in generally because of his tight guard that Canelo had to lay on the ropes to open up space to hurt him to the body. This really did showcase just how versatile Canelo is and how he is able to adapt in the ring to any style.

 

Yes but don't you think he would do better vs Canelo if it was in the U.K.? In the first round he was certainly out of sorts, and it seemed like it would be a mismatch, but then he warmed up in rounds 2-5 and had made it a fight. In round 6 he started well but then the tide turned for good.

Had he started better it may not have been so uphill. And of course the cut from sparring (Brook??) re-opening during the fight. The guy has punching power and a good offensive arsenal but vs Canelo he was exposed as being suceptible to body punches. Not many fighters can set traps and land hard body punches like Canelo though so I'm not sure if anyone else at 154 could actually stop Beefy. I could see a guy like Lara outboxing Beefy or something but he's really good at blocking, even tucking the elbow to block the body, he only got hurt to the body because he was busy throwing punches.

 

Yeah but did nerves affect Beefy's performance, like in the first round. It seemed like he stumbled out of the gate but then started to get into the fight, but it was too uphill. If Beefy could have started stronger you never know it could have been a different fight. Or the cut which limited his sparring, which made him have to shake off ring rust in the biggest fight of his life. Not an excuse but it could have changed the fight.