Joe Smith Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
It was never a guarantee that Joe Smith Jr. would make it up the ladder. If we're being candid, the likelihood of him doing so was seemingly slim. In just his seventh pro fight, Smith would go on to lose to Eddie Caminero, a journeyman who immediately went on a six-fight losing skid.
David Benavidez isn’t the ideal target of any fighter. Although he’s gone on to become a two-time super middleweight champion and current WBC interim tag holder, the 26-year-old is seldom called out. But who could blame his competition?
Joe Smith Jr. is forced to mourn the loss of a sibling to a senseless shooting over the weekend. Alex Smith, the younger brother of the former WBO light heavyweight titlist, was murdered early Saturday morning in Mastic Beach, New York. Reports from several Long Island news outlets indicate that the 30-year-old from neighboring Mastic was involved in a confrontation with an unknown assailant in the parking lot of Linsa Torr’s Place, a popular local bar on Neighborhood Road in the overnight between Friday and Saturday.
Promoter Frank Warren believes Anthony Yarde would have been crowned a world champion if his opponent last Saturday night in London went by the name of, say, Joe Smith Jr.
Marc Ramsay believes Joe Smith Jr.’s aggressive strategy against his charge, Artur Beterbiev, was akin to rolling the dice. Beterbiev, the Montreal-based Russian, broke down Smith of Long Island in two rounds in their WBC, WBO, and IBF 175-pound title unification fight last Saturday at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Beterbiev dropped Smith three times in a fight many expected would end in a knockout, given that both fighters are known for their punching prowess.
Artur Beterbiev’s power surge in the ring was met with a ratings spike among home viewers. The June 18 edition of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN fired on all cylinders, including a main event where an average of 912,000 viewers tuned in for Beterbiev’s second-round, technical knockout of Joe Smith Jr. Beterbiev defended his unified lineal/WBC/IBF light heavyweight championship while violently snatching Smith’s WBO title in Saturday’s headliner at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City.
Destroyers are fun. There’s a reason boxing records are written and announced as they are. How many wins? How many losses? How many knockouts? That last number has always mattered. No one really bothers to count up the number of unanimous decision victories.
Trainer Tunde Ajayi realizes Artur Beterbiev’s power is the real article – the speed of his punches, on the other hand, is another question.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons - I’m in a light heavyweight state of mind. And in the afterglow of a weekend in which a pair of 175-pound bombers met in New York in what some labeled the division’s most important fight in 39 years, it’s not hard to understand why.
Joe Smith Jr. admits he could never implement his strategy to the fullest extent during his short-lived tussle with Russian puncher Artur Beterbiev.