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Beterbiev vs Smith Jr June 18th ESPN

For as long as this lasts, I'll be entertained. I'll say this about Joe Smith: he is maxing out his potential and every opportunity given to him according to his abilities. He keeps being in these big fights and he fights like a dog. I respect that. LHW has never been that deep of a division, so good for him for making the most of it. If this were other eras when LHW was pretty jacked, he would have a rougher go (1920's was one of the densest of decades for LHW). I guess he's what you call an overachiever all things in consideration.
 
You still have to pay for espn plus for this fight right?
Yes, that is true, but I would pay for it anyway because it includes the NHL games. I'm just glad they are giving us a good fight for the base price of ESPN plus and not trying to charge us 75 extra like the UFC routinely does.
 
After this I want Biev to either pursue the Bivol fight or expose Zurdo who has been ducking him. Although Zurdo will continue to duck him.
 
Ok so I think this is going to be a massacre. I've been pretty big on Biev especially how underappreciated his skill goes due to his unreal punching power and when I heard about this fight my first thought was .....this should be an entertaining fight... both guys have power and are aggressive pressure fighters.... then after the initial excitement of hearing about a new fight I though......oh no Joe Smith is going to get the beating of a life time. Lets get this out of the way Joe has power so he does have a punchers chance???, but that won't mean anything because I believe that Biev is going to dish out so much punishment that it is going to stifle Joe's offense significantly. It reminds me of GGG vs Lemieux but its going to be WORSE. I can't for the life of me see how anyone sees Joe as anything but target practice for Artur. Joe's tough as nails, has great heart, has absolutely made the most of his talent and potential, great power and should be credited for that but he is ALL wrong for Biev. Biev is levels more technical then Joe in every aspect of boxing and is the most complete offensive fighter in the division. Counters from a variety of angels check, leads from angles check, accurate punching check, precise piston like jab check, combination punching check, body punching check, generates fight changing power without winding up at all distances check, solid chin check, educated footwork check..... Man if Joe wins the lottery and lands one big punch I will gladly eat crow but this fight has SLAUGHTER written all over it imo.... It will be an example of toughness and heart being used against a fighter.
 
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I think Canelo will fight smarter in the rematch. He'll come better prepared, too. Bivol will come in more confident and that will probably translate into a willingness to press more and up his aggression. That might not be to his advantage since he'll be more open to counters. Bivol is good at picking his spots though, and limiting countering opportunities in general, but every fight is different.

You're right in that Canelo does have to fix his stamina in the rematch. Fortunately for him a fair bit of that was down to him putting everything into those big swings that constantly missed or were blocked. If he avoids falling into that same type of pattern and is mindful of it he won't drain himself and tire as quickly. Improving his cardio, pacing himself a lot more intelligently, and just being more efficient when throwing his punches should help him a lot. Energy conservation will be important. Staying behind the jab and incorporating more feints would also help since it takes a lot less energy than constantly throwing nothing but heavy power punches like Canelo did last time out. I'd pick Bivol to win the rematch but Canelo does have a shot at winning if he makes the right adjustments and there are a few of them he'll have to make to get the W.

Bivol was supposed to be a guy like Uysk who was going to show generational greatness at his weight class. He was LHW champ at 25 in his 7th fight so he was one of those learning on the job champs and had a few clunker fights, though he defended his belt each time.

Canelo's losses to Mayweather, Glovkin (Draw?) and Bivol have all been against elite generational boxers. The other guys he's been beating are mostly 1 belt title holders. So I don't know if he takes a rematch against Bivol but It really doesn't matter as he's already done enough in his career to be a GOAT. Just like Uysk and Fury have done enough already.
 
Because he's at 175 now and was completely drained at 168 which is why he had no energy. He almost killed Castillo, a man who's never been KO'd (or even been knocked down, I think) before.

Saying Smith will KO Biev based on his KO win over Castillo is beyond a stretch.

And about that completely drained at 168 conclusion which I think is fishy...

In 2018 Smith won the super middle weight tournament by KO ing George groves in 7 and elite fighter at the weight.
Then 9 months in later (2019) he retains his tiles by Ko'ing Hassan N' Jikam in 3 ( A fighter that never lost by stoppage) in brutal fashion.
Then 6 months later he looks like shit against John Ryder and a year later he becomes Canelo's punching bag.
Either became completely drained at the weight in the span of a 6 month period or his very straight forward style of fighting got figured out by fighters that were able to take advantage of it by closing the distance effectively and beating him to the punch.
Smith has really good power in both hands, tough as hell, and has good technique but he is a very straight up and down fighter that seems to struggle when fighters are able to close the distance on him and are slick enough to make him miss and counter. He is an elite fighter at 168 and I would favour Smith to beat most of the top ten at supermiddle weight to this day honestly.

I'll just say this, it would be a good fight but I don't think Smith has enough wrinkles to his game to beat Biev as he is way to direct in his approach.
And I'll take your Castillo Ko and raise you Biev retiring Oleksandr Gvozdyk who was a killer and undefeated WBC champion at 175 who basically retired Adonis Stevenson.
 
Good stuff. That was definitely well done. Looking forward to Part 2! I think Artur has a pretty good team behind him. Marc Ramsay and 'Iceman' John Scully are a good duo.
They’re both great. Marc Ramsay is really impressive when he talks, seems like such a knowledgeable coach with a great temperament and seems like a good man. Huge fan of his, he deserves more recognition.

And ice man scully is one of the best interviews in boxing, every boxing podcast should have the guy on, he’s a boxing historian and is also a natural story teller and you can tell how much he loves boxing.
 
They’re both great. Marc Ramsay is really impressive when he talks, seems like such a knowledgeable coach with a great temperament and seems like a good man. Huge fan of his, he deserves more recognition.

And ice man scully is one of the best interviews in boxing, every boxing podcast should have the guy on, he’s a boxing historian and is also a natural story teller and you can tell how much he loves boxing.
Agreed. I wish Marc Ramsay got more recognition as well. He's one of the better trainers in professional boxing. Very knowledgeable guy as you said. I watched the "Homecoming" documentary recently where he revealed that Artur was the first boxer "living and training in Canada" to become a unified world champion (source). That actually surprised me a little but he would know better than I would. As for Scully, he's an OG. I like him a lot. Great guy.
 
Naoya fought this morning, Beterbiev fights in 2 weeks, both brutal finishers. In between both fights we have Jaime "i'm afraid of everyone" Munguia. Can we just skip a week?
 
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Beterbiev's savage offense will neutralize anything Joe has to offer. I got Beterbiev 6 round KO.
 
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