Fresh from becoming the first man to stop Bernard Hopkins, Joe Smith Jr is talking up his own chances of being crowned Fighter of the Year.

The light heavyweight puncher moved to 23-1 and made it three wins for three in 2016 with victory over the Future Hall of Famer earlier this month.

Speaking during a media scrum, Smith revealed: “I believe I should be fighter of the year. Two great fights back to back, nobody else has knocked anyone out the way I did. I shocked the world twice!”

Andrzej Fonfara felt the wrath of Smith’s punching power back in June where he was dispatched inside a round, in what was a major upset that continued to build the 27 year old’s growing reputation.

Smith is one of the fighters being considered for the Fighter of The Year honor by the Boxing Writers Association of America, but the list is pretty stacked. Other fighters in the running include Manny Pacquiao, Carl Frampton, Terence Crawford, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Roman Gonzalez.

Smith is currently ranked #2 with the WBC and will be hoping for a world title shot in the New Year.

Current WBC Titlist Adonis Stevenson has declared his interest to unify the belts with Andre Ward, but with a rematch in the works with Sergey Kovalev, may find himself having to make a mandatory defence sooner rather than later which could open the door for Smith.

When quizzed who he wants to lock horns with in his next three fights, the Long Islander roared: “Stevenson, Kovalev and anyone else they got!”

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