Joe Smith Jr

[Westside]

Looking forward to Smith making a statement and progressing in his career. I said months back. If he could improve his jab, he could come close to having the complete package. Lets GO Joe!!!!

 

[Arerequired]

Big fight for Joe.

 

[white is right]

Hey this card is loaded with heavyweight prospects all are probably in mismatches but Trey Lippe-Morrison is finally back on the horse, Sonny Conto is fighting too and the main ESPN card has Anderson and Ajagba (both Black) who should flatten their opponents.

As for the main event Smith looks like he will gain a ton of weight and looks stronger than Vlasov, the key for him is being able to use this weight advantage.

PS, the Conto and Lippe-Morrison fight should be on the internet and maybe highlights will be on the ESPN broadcast.

PS2 Conto and Lippe-Morrison fought earlier and Conto blew out his cannon fodder. Lippe-Morrison on the other hand looked very poor for a top prospect. Morrison was out boxed at times and was legitimately dropped in the opening round when he zigged when he should have zagged. At the time of the tko win Morrison was in command but that was more because of conditioning as his journeyman opponent was sucking wind and reduced to measured counter punching.

This win with a cloud over it will have to be chalked up to injuries and a Covid break. I hope Lippe-Morrison is back on the horse quickly even if it's against a similar junk yard dog type opponent.

 

[Westside]

Congrats to Smith! Hard earned decision. It was close. I believe the knock down in round 11 was legit over Valsov. The ref did not. Smith is at times frustrating to watch. His corner implored him to attack the body, yet Smith did not. Instead going the the head shot. Smith has to learn that the body shots kill the fight in the opponent over a fight. Smith has to learn this ASAP. Vaslov, wow, he looked like a light weight in there. Very elusive and punches in bunches. But the harder shots by Smith wore him down. Smith has to learn body shots and improve his jab. He was at times being walked down by a smaller opponent. He has to learn to leverage body shots on the inside.

 

[white is right]

Congrats to Smith! Hard earned decision. It was close. I believe the knock down in round 11 was legit over Valsov. The ref did not. Smith is at times frustrating to watch. His corner implored him to attack the body, yet Smith did not. Instead going the the head shot. Smith has to learn that the body shots kill the fight in the opponent over a fight. Smith has to learn this ASAP. Vaslov, wow, he looked like a light weight in there. Very elusive and punches in bunches. But the harder shots by Smith wore him down. Smith has to learn body shots and improve his jab. He was at times being walked down by a smaller opponent. He has to learn to leverage body shots on the inside.

Yes it could be argued it was a draw or even a narrow win for the Russian national but it was hard fought fight either way. Smith had to suck it up and dig down on the mouth piece to win this one as going into the championship rounds he looked down from my non scoring perspective.

PS, a few minutes after I saw Lipinets get sacrificed to Ennis and this was predictable as Lipinets seemed like he was fighting a guy a few divisions larger than him again. Unlike last time against the more limited Black Nova Scotian he was up against an elite prospect and was violently stopped.

Lipinets needs to move down or retire as he is spotting too much size to large welterweights.

 

[Westside]

Yes it could be argued it was a draw or even a narrow win for the Russian national but it was hard fought fight either way. Smith had to suck it up and dig down on the mouth piece to win this one as going into the championship rounds he looked down from my non scoring perspective.

PS, a few minutes after I saw Lipinets get sacrificed to Ennis and this was predictable as Lipinets seemed like he was fighting a guy a few divisions larger than him again. Unlike last time against the more limited Black Nova Scotian he was up against an elite prospect and was violently stopped.

Lipinets needs to move down or retire as he is spotting too much size to large welterweights.

Agreed on the Lipinets analysis.

 

[Charles Martel]

I like Joe Smith, but I scored the fight 116-112 for Vlasov.

Smith should have been deducted a point for the rabbit punch in the 11th round. Andre Ward's scorecard of 3 rounds each after 6 was ridiculous. He's as dodgy as a commentator as he was as a boxer. And the punch stats they were talking about were wrong - Vlasov was landing far more, although Smith landed a few harder punches.

But we've seen it many times before, boxing is a corrupt sport. I hate seeing boxers from other countries get screwed on the scorecards by the promoter's officials.

Lippe-Morrison looked mediocre, to tell the truth he's not going to be a heavyweight contender.

On the positive side, Conto looked great. He's much more talented than Lippe-Morrison.

 

[freedom1]

Yeah, I was really getting exciting about Trey Lippe Morrison a couple of years ago, but the 2 year layoff has really set him back.

 

[white is right]

I like Joe Smith, but I scored the fight 116-112 for Vlasov.

Smith should have been deducted a point for the rabbit punch in the 11th round. Andre Ward's scorecard of 3 rounds each after 6 was ridiculous. He's as dodgy as a commentator as he was as a boxer. And the punch stats they were talking about were wrong - Vlasov was landing far more, although Smith landed a few harder punches.

But we've seen it many times before, boxing is a corrupt sport. I hate seeing boxers from other countries get screwed on the scorecards by the promoter's officials.

Lippe-Morrison looked mediocre, to tell the truth he's not going to be a heavyweight contender.

On the positive side, Conto looked great. He's much more talented than Lippe-Morrison.

Yes Smith can generate a bigger purse for the proposed unification fight with Bertebiev which off of the fight last night looks like a mismatch.

Lippe-Morrison looked slower and less fit than when I saw him, many times when athletes sit on their butts for a couple of years they aren't the same athletes again when they launch comebacks. I will say this there is nothing that suggests he is on "gear" like his pops used early in his career until his last real fight against Lennox Lewis.

 

[Westside]

Smith only chance against the monster Bertebiev would be a Hail Mary shot that Bertebiev did not see coming. Bertebiev will grind out a stoppage of Smith come round 8 or 9. Smith will get a pay day is for sure.

 

[The Hock]

Sometimes a fighter can stink it up in one fight and look good the next. Hope Morrison (can't stand those hyphenated name) was just shaking some rust out.

I like Smith great blue collar but I hope he gets paid to fight Beterbiev.

 

[Arerequired]

Lipinets seemed like another smaller and older former Soviet fighter biting off more than he can chew, I was cynical about this matchup. (Though Loma likely drew he wasn't getting the decision against a Mexican).

Similar to Povetkin's 2nd fight against Whyte, but less of an age factor.

 

[NWsoccerfan]

Glad Smith got the title, but I agree with the above posts that he will be in tough vs Beterbiev. As for Morrison, I was pretty excited about him a few years back too but yeah he looked mediocre in this fight. He had a journeyman in front of him who had been stopped in his last 4 fights, yet he wasn't able to really get anything going. It looked like Bergman rolled his ankle and then gave up due to exhaustion. Morrison was training with Freddie Roach but I'm not sure if that's still the case. I'll hold off on criticizing him too much until he fights again.

 

[Bucky]

Briefly watched the clip with Morrison. I agree he looked rusty and a bit out of shape. Crucial for him to stay healthy and be more active the rest of 2021.

Awesome to see Joe Smith reaching the top of the division. He will definitely have his hands full with Beterbiev, but deserves the Fight and the payday as others have stated.