Smith Jr: I expect Hopkins to run like he did against Kovalev

By Boxing News - 12/15/2016 - Comments

Image: Smith Jr: I expect Hopkins to run like he did against Kovalev

By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBC light heavyweight contender Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs) can’t wait to get 51-year-old former two division world champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) this Saturday night so that he can shut him up and “retire a legend” at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

The Hopkins-Smith Jr. fight will be televised on HBO Boxing. Hopkins has been doing a lot of trash talking in calling Smith Jr. a “Common” man, and mentioning him in the same sentence as former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who Hopkins beat by a one-sided 12 round decision eight years ago in 2008.

Pavlik’s once promising boxing career was never the same after the loss to Hopkins. The loss didn’t officially end Pavlik’s career, but it did send it skittering downwards in a spiral.
Smith Jr. said this to Fighthub.com about the Hopkins fight:

“I can’t wait until Saturday to shut him up finally,” said Smith Jr. “I am a common guy. I work. I haven’t made $40 million dollars. I’m going to show that the common man is going to beat the legend. Whatever he throws at me, I’m going to be ready for. I’m expecting him to fight me on the inside. I’m expecting him to run like he did against Kovalev. I’m ready for it all. I believe Kovalev let him off the hook a couple of times when he had him hurt. If I hurt him, I’m going to finish him.”

For all the talk that Hopkins has done for this fight, he didn’t show much in his last fight against Sergey Kovalev two years ago in November 2014. Hopkins moved the entire 12 rounds after getting dropped in the 1st. It’s unclear whether Hopkins had intended on punching with Kovalev, but he didn’t do much after tasting the canvas in round one.

That might be the only thing Hopkins can do against a puncher like Smith Jr., because he doesn’t have the youth, the power or the sharpness to stand and fight him. Smith Jr. says he’ll be ready for whatever Hopkins shows him in this fight. I believe he will.

“I’m not going to predict that I end his career entirely, physically,” said Hopkins about Smith Jr. “I’m not going to wish the Kelly Pavlik on him. I’m going to spank him and teach him his ABCs, and send him back up to Long Island. Then one day if he recovers mentally, then he might have something to salvage and go forward. I’m a career stopper. Common, you won’t be special come Saturday. You’re going to stay common. I want him to have a career. The sweet science has nothing to do with power. I beat you up,” said Hopkins.

Smith Jr. is going to force Hopkins to fight him on Saturday night. If Hopkins can’t stand in the pocket and fight him, then it’s going to be hard for the aging Hopkins to win the fight. He’s not going to get a decision if he’s not going to fight him. Hopkins beat Beibut Shumenov by a 12 round decision in April 2014.

You can argue the reason why Shumenov lost that fight was because he stood on the outside and he kept looking to and single pot shots rather than simply attacking Hopkins the way he needed to for him to win. Hopkins was beaten by Chad Dawson in 2012. Dawson didn’t do much other than box Hopkins for 12 rounds, and he beat him by fair one-sided fight.

Smith Jr. has obviously been picked out by Hopkins as someone he thinks he can beat. Hopkins could have picked out a better fighter than him like Artur Beterbiev, but he instead chose Smith Jr. This is going to be interesting to see if Hopkins has enough to win this fight. It will be bad news for Hopkins if he can’t handle the punching power of Smith. We’ll see Hopkins retire off of a knockout loss or another injury like we saw in his first fight against Dawson.