Comments Thread For: How Joe Smith Jr. Became Boxing's Feel Good Story of 2016

[slimPickings]

Unknown and underdog twice and conclusive victories twice!!

My fighter of the year!!!

[nycsmooth]

All he needs in my opinion all he needs and my opinion close up that defense & get your basics down a little better and he's going to be fun the watch for 5/6 years...

[Tatabanya]

I like Joe very much, he looks like a humble kid and hits like a mule. However, let's clear our minds a bit. Fonfara had him reeling and got careless (and starched). Hopkins at 52, after a two-year layoff and a drubbing at the hands of Kovalev, was not impossible to beat. Translation: if Smith gets in the ring with someone like Artur Beterbiev, he will not last two rounds.

[PunchyPotorff]

I like Joe very much, he looks like a humble kid and hits like a mule. However, let's clear our minds a bit. Fonfara had him reeling and got careless (and starched). Hopkins at 52, after a two-year layoff and a drubbing at the hands of Kovalev, was not impossible to beat. Translation: if Smith gets in the ring with someone like Artur Beterbiev, he will not last two rounds.

I see this all the time...

'Bbbbuuuttt Fonfara had him out on his feet'.

Smith was just off balance for a sec. He may not go all the way, but for now he's a lot of fun to watch in the ring, and you cannot beat his work ethic. I think he could beat Williams Jr, Rodriguez, Barrera, Stieglitz, Pascal, Chilemba and some others. Currently, Ward would go into a run-for-your-life track meet, Kovalev would wear him down, and Beterbiev and Stevenson are more beatable than many fans realize, those 50/50 fights for Smith.

[Superbee]

Smith Jr would/will be destroyed by any top dogs in the Division, by a brutal KO (Beterbiev, Stevenson, Kovalev, Gvozdyk...) or from a boxing 101 lesson (Ward, Alvarez...).

Hell I don't even think he stands a chance against Pascal, Barrera, Gonzalez, Williams Jr, or on a Fonfara 2 fight....

[HandsofIron]

They better make a underdog movie/documentary for this guy after he retires. Knocking Hopkins into the 5th row was epic enough.

[b Murphington]

I love it. This kid is a great story.

Just a big, strong, working class guy trying to come up in the boxing world. Like it used to be in America in the old days.

I think he has done enough to earn himself a title shot. Fonfara and Hopkins are two highly ranked scalps to have on your belt.

Someone might actually offer him a shot, but he should turn it down. He's nowhere near ready. He is way too green.

Beating Fonfara was huge, but it was in the 1st rd. He didn't even work up a sweat. As far as improving as a fighter and improving your skill set and working on things in a fight, he didn't get the opportunity to do that.

Knocking out Hopkins and being the only fighter to do so is huge as well, but at the same time, Hopkins is an old man.

He needs 3 or 4 more fights against quality opposition to work on some things, because right now, he's just a strong, come forward fighter. He doesn't even have a good jab. If you're walking through the front door, not even cutting off the ring, at least throw a halfway decent jab.

He might be able to get there at some point, but if he tries for a title right now, he loses pretty bad. Remember, next time out he's not going to be facing a 51 year old man.

[ShoulderRoll]

Someone might actually offer him a shot, but he should turn it down. He's nowhere near ready. He is way too green.

Beating Fonfara was huge, but it was in the 1st rd. He didn't even work up a sweat. As far as improving as a fighter and improving your skill set and working on things in a fight, he didn't get the opportunity to do that.

Knocking out Hopkins and being the only fighter to do so is huge as well, but at the same time, Hopkins is an old man.

He needs 3 or 4 more fights against quality opposition to work on some things, because right now, he's just a strong, come forward fighter. He doesn't even have a good jab. If you're walking through the front door, not even cutting off the ring, at least throw a halfway decent jab.

He might be able to get there at some point, but if he tries for a title right now, he loses pretty bad. Remember, next time out he's not going to be facing a 51 year old man.

But if he goes for a title he will get himself a nice payday. Might even be able to quit his job at that point and devote himself full time to the sport.

Even if he loses he is young enough to rebuild.

[b Murphington]

But if he goes for a title he will get himself a nice payday. Might even be able to quit his job at that point and devote himself full time to the sport.

Even if he loses he is young enough to rebuild.

Well if he were to go for one right now, he would have to go for the weakest champion so that he has a better chance at winning, and can still say that he got a belt.

Does anyone have a belt other than Ward or Stevenson? Cuz right now, he loses to either of those guys.

[Tatabanya]

I see this all the time...

'Bbbbuuuttt Fonfara had him out on his feet'.

I never wrote that Smith was out on his feet. I wrote that Fonfara had him reeling (="lose one's balance and stagger or lurch violently", as per Google definition) and got careless. Had Fonfara kept his composure in that moment, the outcome might (might) have been different.

Of the names you quote, as of now I think that Sullivan Barrera alone is enough to decisively beat Smith, let alone Beterbiev or Stevenson. And an in-shape Chilemba would also outpoint him.