By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (24-1-1, 13 KOs) came in 1 ½ pounds over the 154lb weigh-in limit on Friday in weighing in at 155.9 lbs. for his fight for the interim WBO junior middleweight title against Liam Williams (16-0-1, 11 KOs) for their important bout this Saturday night on April 8 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Williams, 24, can still win the interim WBO title. Williams weighed in at 152 ½ pounds.
I don’t know what happened with the 28-year-old Smith. How do you mess up your weight like he did? He should have had his weight on point for the fight. Now he royally blew it. To be honest, it’s not as if I see Smith being able to win the WBO junior middleweight title anyway. Maybe it’s time for Smith to move up to middleweight.
What’s scary is that the winner of the Smith-Williams fight will likely be the new WBO 154lb champion before long. Canelo Alvarez, the current WBO champion, has already made it clear that he won’t be coming back down to defend the title. As such, we’re likely going to see the World Boxing Organization elevate the winner of the Liam Smith vs. Liam Williams fight as the new WBO junior middleweight champion. The real question is why isn’t the WBO ranking some of the talented fighters in the division like Demetrius Andrade, Erickson Lubin and Julian Williams in their top 3?
I think those guys would wipe the deck with Williams and Smith. The WBO has Miguel Cotto ranked No.1 with their organization despite him making it clear he’s retiring at the end of the year. Cotto is said to be hunting for a fight against a welterweight before facing Canelo Alvarez in December. I doubt that fight will be for Canelo’s WBO 154lb title.
Smith, ranked #4 WBO, #12 WBC, lost his WBO 154lb title last year to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in getting stopped in the 9th round at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Smith definitely gave Canelo some problems in that fight before getting badly hurt in round 9 from a body shot. Canelo dropped Smith in rounds 7 and 8. It was still a competitive fight. In analyzing where Smith went wrong, he stopped throwing as many punches in the second half of the fight as he had in the first 6 rounds. This allowed Canelo to get his shots off and hurt Smith. Before the fight, Smith had said that the key to beating Canelo was to throw nonstop punches. As it turns out, it was a lot easier said than done for the 28-year-old Smith. He didn’t have the gas tank to throw nonstop punches.
I never thought that Smith could fight that kind of fight against Canelo, because he’s always been an economical puncher. Guys like Smith are economical not because they’re concerned with fighting smart. They’re that way because they don’t have the battery. The good news for Liam Smith is he won’t need to throw nonstop punches against Liam Williams, because he’s enough power and talent to win the fight throwing 20-25 punches per round, which is what is what I’m expecting from Smith. I can’t see him going over that number, because he really labors when he throws a lot of shots. Smith’s fighting style kind of reminds me of an old car I used to have with 300,000 miles on it. The car was spitting out black smoke from the back end, and dying out on hills. Smith really tires quickly when he’s put in a position where he has to throw a lot of punches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BntxlXanfE
19-year-old heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois weighed in at 231 ½ pounds for his 4 round fight against Marcus Kell (1-0). This will be the 6’4 ½” Dubois’ pro debut. Dubois was recently signed by promoter Frank Warren, and he’s thought to have a bright future. I’ve seen Dubois fight before. He’s got an excellent jab. However, Dubois’ right hand power is slow and not particularly powerful. His left hook is nothing special. On the defensive side, Dubois is very easy to hit. He’s going to need to fix his defense if he wants to go anywhere in the heavyweight division.
In looking at Dubois right now, he’s basically a bigger version of Bryant Jennings but without the right hand power and defensive skills that he has. Can Dubois improve enough for him to be a major player in the heavyweight division in the future? I don’t know. He’s not going to win fights against the top guys if all he can do is jab. Dubois has got to find some punching power somewhere, and fix his leaky defense. Being young will give Dubois a lot of time to improve. Whether he can is the big question. Right now, I’d favor Hughie Fury to beat Dubois, and I’m not too high on the 6’6” Hughie. It would be great for Dubois if he could get a lot of sparring with the likes of Anthony Joshua. Dubois should volunteer to work as sparring partner with Joshua as much as possible to help improve his game.
Wladimir Klitschko upgrading his game
Wladimir Klitschko has made improvements in his game that he feels will result in him beating IBF heavyweight title holder Anthony Joshua on April 29. Wladimir is 41-years-old, and he’s being asked a lot to try and beating Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who can punch and is the same size as him at 6’6”. Wladimir is faster and has equal punching power than Joshua. Wladimir doesn’t take a shot as well as Joshua in my opinion. That’s not to say that Joshua can take full power shots to the head without going down for the count. I think Joshua is like anyone. If he gets hit enough, he can be knocked out. Right now, Joshua has been getting over on the fact that his offense is his defense, and he’s being put in with a lot of guys that haven’t tested him.
“There’s so many things, even at this stage of my career, that is being upgraded. So, it’s getting better and more exciting,” Klitschko said to Sky Sports News HQ. I am happy about having AJ as my opponent because AJ needs me and I need AJ to make this event happen,” said Klitschko.
I don’t know how Wladimir can be happy fighting Joshua in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London, England. That’s going to be really hard on Wladimir because that large crowd of boxing fans is going to be cheering LOUDLY for Joshua the entire time. That’s incredibly bad news for Wladimir, who usually fights in front of his German fans in Germany. They love Wladimir over there.
Joshua is not going to allow Wladimir to fight at a glacial pace on April 29. Joshua is going to jump on Wladimir, force him to exchange, and look to take him out right away in the 1st round. If Wladimir hasn’t made upgrades in his game to deal with Joshua starting quickly against him, then he’s going to succumb almost immediately to his power.
“I have been doing it for such a long, long time, so the end of the fight is going to be, and I’m focused on this, positive for me where I am going to raise my hands and hold the titles. I want to show to myself that I’ve still got it,”
Wladimir should put his energy on planning strategies in how to win the fight. He’s thinking too much about being confident, and that’s a waste of time. The smart way for Wladimir to get ready for Joshua is to predict a fast start from the British fighter. Joshua is going to throw jabs and power shots from the opening bell. Joshua will almost surely bum rush Wladimir at some point in the opening round and looking to KO him right then and there. Wladimir should be staying as far on the outside as possible, using his jab and moving.
Wladimir must try and close Joshua’s eyes with powerful jabs. In the past, Wladimir has puffed up the face of his opponents with his jabs, and given them what he calls a “pizza face.” He needs to do that with Joshua before he even considers hitting him with a right hand or left hook. The only time I think Wladimir should start throwing power shots is if he’s cornered and has no other options but to unload power shots to save his own hide. If things start looking bleak for Wladimir, then he should empty out his tool kit by throwing everything he’s got with maximum power.
A lot of boxing fans seem to forget that Wladimir has power too. The fans are only thinking that Joshua can punch, when in reality Wladimir can punch as well, and possibly with even more power. Wladimir’s left hook is unrivaled. Joshua doesn’t have a similar punch in his arsenal that is comparable in power to Wladimir’s. I think Wladimir is capable of throwing shorter punches with more power than Joshua. Wladimir’s short left hooks are better than most shots that Joshua throws, and his jab is far superior to Joshua’s.