On Friday night at Turning Stone Resort Casino the fighters stepped on the scale ahead of a stacked card with two championship fights, headlined by WBA Light Heavyweight Titlist Dmitry Bivol making his fifth defense against Joe Smith Jr. and WBO Light Featherweight Titlist Maurice Hooker battling Mikkel LesPierre. The main card will also feature Callum Johnson against Sean Monaghan in a Light Heavyweight clash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgv7iPiHL9I
12-Round WBA Light Heavyweight World Title Bout @ 175 lbs.
Dmitry Bivol: 173.5 lbs.
Joe Smith Jr: 173 lbs.
12-Round WBO Super Lightweight Title Bout @ 140 lbs.
Maurice Hooker: 140 lbs.
Mikkel LesPierre: 138.75 lbs.
10-Round Light Heavyweight Bout @ 175 lbs.
Callum Johnson: 173 lbs.
Sean Monaghan: 174 lbs.
Dmitry Bivol could open the door to mega-fights at Super-Middleweight as he prepares to defend his WBA World Light-Heavyweight title against Joe Smith Jr on Saturday March 9 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK.
Bivol (15-0 11 KOs) puts his crown on the line for the fifth time against Long Island’s Smith Jr (24-2 20 KOs), who fights in his first World title bout. The champion has long stated his desire to unify the 175 lbs division, but the unbeaten Russian has cast his eyes on the Super-Middleweight division and is excited by the prospect of potentially becoming a two-weight World champion.
“I’m not a big guy for Light-Heavyweight, and I can make Super-Middleweight, and I said many times that I want the big fights,” said Bivol. By that I mean that I want to fight for belts. If someone has a belt in Super-Middleweight or Light-Heavyweight division, I would be glad to fight them.
“I know Callum Smith has a belt, and I would like to fight him if he wants to, and if our promoters can make this fight. I am open for every fight for the belt now. There are many names who have belts. To the top ten from Light-Heavyweight and Super-Middleweight: I’m ready to fight.
“Boxing is a different sport to something like running. In running, you just have good speed. In boxing, you could have good speed, but this doesn’t mean you can win. I’m not the hardest puncher, I’m not the quickest fighter, but I have something that helps me to be a winner. I have enough speed, I think many speed from Light-Heavyweight have enough speed, the same power as me, maybe more power. I love this sport, because you don’t need to be the quickest or the strongest, I don’t know. I’m just one of the best. I have the best team, I have the best coach, maybe it’s because I believe in my skills.”
Smith Jr’s clash with Bivol is part of a huge night of action at Turning Stone Resort Casino with a second mouthwatering World title fight on the bill in the shape of Maurice Hooker (25-0-3 17 KOs) defending his WBO World Super-Lightweight title against Brooklyn’s Mikkel LesPierre (21-0-1 10KOs).
Callum Johnson (17-1-0 12 KOs) and Sean Monaghan (29-2-0 17 KOs) will both have a keen eye on the Bivol-Smith Jr. clash as they battle in a crunch fight in the 175 lbs division, Uzbek amateur star Israil Madrimov (1-0 1KO) defends his WBA Inter-Continental Super Welterweight title against Frank Rojas (24-2-0 23 KOs), World-ranked heavyweight contender Sergey Kuzmin, (14-0 11 KOs), of St. Petersburg, Russia will battle Philadelphia based veteran Joey Dawejko, (19-6-4 11 KOs) and Otha Jones III makes his pro debut on the card.
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Category
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Dmitry Bivol
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Joe Smith Jr.
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Age
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28
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29
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Record
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15-0-0 (11 KOs)
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24-2-0 (20 KOs)
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Strength
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Dmitry is incredibly elusive in the ring, he has a granite chin and solid power in his shots. He gained a vast amount of experience in his recent title defense over former champion Jean Pascal.
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Joe Smith has incredible heart and an iron chin. He has knockout power in both hands and has earned stoppage wins over former champions Bernard Hopkins and Andrzej Fonfara.
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Weakness
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Bivol is coming into this match lacking the professional experience that his opponent possesses.
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Smith has been inactive as of late, only competing twice in the previous two years.
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Experience
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Although he lacks the professional experience in comparison to his opponent, he is establishing himself as a force in the light heavyweight division.
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Smith has been fighting at the professional level for about 10 years, while also earning notable wins along the way.
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Power
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Bivol has a powerful jab and vicious right hand. He is guilty in handing the always-durable Sullivan Barrera his first stoppage loss just one year ago.
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His power may be his biggest strength, he has heavy hands and throws with bad intentions. He handed the future hall-of-famer Bernard Hopkins his only career stoppage loss in 2016 when he knocked Hopkins out of the ring.
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Speed
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The champion possesses possibly the fastest hands at 175-pounds. He’s quick with the jab and even quicker with his combinations.
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The challenger maintains a steady pace throughout the fight. He saves his energy for the finish in which he does a good job of turning it up a notch.
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Endurance
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He proved in his last two outings that he can handle going a full 12-rounds: defeating the always-crafty Isaac Chilemba and former champion Jean Pascal.
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Although he has never been pushed for 12-rounds, he proved his toughness and grit when he went 10-rounds with Sullivan Barrera despite a broken jaw.
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Accuracy
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Dmitry has a pinpoint accurate jab that he follows-up with rigorous combinations to the head and body.
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Smith’s accuracy isn’t on par with his opponent. However, if he lands one clean shot then the night can come to an early end.
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Defense
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Bivol is very elusive in the ring, which causes major problems for his opponents in getting off effective shots.
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Smith is an offensive-minded fighter; there is no feeling out process in the ring with him. He presses the action from start to finish in overwhelming fashion.
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Chin
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It is safe to say that the champion’s chin is more than durable. He took some big shots in his previous bout with Jean Pascal but was able to execute his game plan in a hard-fought win.
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Although he was stopped once in 2010, Smith has since flipped the script completely on any doubt regarding his chin. He put on a courageous effort with Sullivan Barrera in 2017 after suffering a broken jaw in the second round.
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Style
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Dmitry is a very busy and aggressive fighter in the ring. He’s constantly throwing his opponents off balance with his movements and continuously unleashes combinations throughout the fight.
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Joe fights with confidence and believes he can go toe-to-toe with anybody in the division. He likes to press the action as soon as the bell rings because he can end the fight with just one shot.
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Intangibles
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Credit to the champion who will be competing for the 8th time in just two years. He is very active and has fully embraced the role as a young titleholder in a very talent-stacked division. In his most recent title-defense, he was able to withstand the physical and aggressive pressure that Jean Pascal is famous for. Similar to Pascal, Joe Smith delivers the same power and aggressiveness only with more torque in his shots. Any lingering questions regarding the champion’s chin will be answered in this bout.
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Joe Smith put himself on the map back in 2016 when he embraced the underdog role against former title challenger Andrzej Fonfara; a fight in which he won via a first round TKO. Nearly three years down the road, he finds himself embracing the underdog role again, this time in his backyard and with the WBA Light Heavyweight title at stake. Joe is no stranger to spoiling parties, he spoiled the retirement party of future hall-of-famer Bernard Hopkins just two years ago and plans on doing the same against a fighter who many refer to as the future of the division.
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Crowd Support
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Although he earned the biggest win of his young career in his last outing with former champion Jean Pascal, it may not be enough to earn him the significant crowd support considering he is fighting in Smith’s home state.
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Smith is a finisher and is also a native of New York, most of the crowd will be in his corner.
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The Match-up
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1. Will Joe Smith’s inactivity show in this fight?
2. Will Dmitry be able to handle Joe Smith’s power?
3. Will Joe Smith be able to handle the pressure and speed of Dmitry?
4. Will Dmitry be able to stay away from Joe Smith power, while fighting his fight at the same time?
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