By Kenneth Friedman: The younger, stronger Joe Smith Jr (26-3, 21 KOs) used his brute strength to defeat former 175-lb world champion by a 9th round knockout in a WBO light heavyweight title eliminator on Saturday night at ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the ninth round, Smith landed a monstrous right hand followed by a short left hook that put Alvarez down through the ropes. Alvarez was on his back hanging outside of the ropes. It took him a little too long to get through the ropes again, and by the time he did, the referee Tony Weeks waved it off.
It was a great performance by Smith, who showed a lot of seasoning in defeating the more experienced Alvarez.
The time of the stoppage was at 0:26 of round nine. Before Smith hurt Alvarez, he pushed him really hard and then nailed him with a big right to the head.
That shot sent Alvarez reeling backward into the ropes. At that point, Smith tagged him with a left hook that put him don on the canvas.
Alvarez, 36, had never been knocked out before going into tonight’s contest, and it was a bit of a surprise to see the 30-year-old Long Island, New York, native Smith Jr scoring a stoppage win.
The combination of the roughhouse tactics and the power from Smith Jr was too much for Alvarez, who came into the fight like the one that usually too physical fr his opponents. But tonight, Alvarez met his match and ended up being overpowered by Smith.
The victory for Smith Jr sets him up to face the winner of the Maxim Vlasov vs. Umar Salamov to battle for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title. Smith Jr. has already said that he wants to fight IBF/WBC 175lb champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) in a unification fight if he wins the WBO belt.
Smith Jr doesn’t want to play it safe the way that former WBO champion Canelo Alvarez did in choosing to vacate his title after beating Sergey Kovalev by a knockout last November to win the 175lb belt. Boxing fans wanted to see Canelo face Beterbiev in a unification match, but he treated the belt like a hot potato and gave it up quickly rather than take a risk in facing Beterbiev.
Rob Brant stops Vitaliy Kopylenko
In the co-feature bout on tonight’s card, former WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Rob Brant (26-2, 18 Kos) defeated Vitaliy Kopylenko (28-3, 16 KOs) by a fifth-round knockout. The fight was stopped by the Ukrainian fighter’s corner due to his left eye had swelled up.
Tonight’s undercard results:
- Israel Mercado defeats Adrian Valdovino by a six-round UD
- Robert Rodriguez stops Abel Soriano in the first round
- Wendy Toussaint decisions Isiah Jones eight-round unanimous decision
- Duke Ragan beats Luis Alvarado by a 1st round knockout
- Julian Rodriguez crushes Anthony Laureano by 1st round TKO
- Clay Collard destroys Maurice Williams by 2nd round KO
Joe Smith Jr (25-3, 20 KOs) has lost two out of his last four fights, but he still remains as a viable contender in the division. Sergey Kovalev lost his WBO light-heavyweight last November to Canelo Alvarez, who then vacated the WBO belt.
Eleider Alvarez was then picked out by the World Boxing Organization to face Smith Jr in a WBO title eliminator.
The 36-year-old former WBO 175lb champion Alvarez is coming off of a seventh-round knockout win over Michael Seals in January of this year. Alvarez lost his WBO title to Kovalev by a 12 round decision in February of 2019, but it was a close fight. Kovalev had lost to Alvarez in their first match by a 7th round knockout two years ago in August 2018.
Light heavyweight contenders Joe Smith Jr and Eleider Alvarez are fighting in a WBO title eliminator tonight on ESPN+ at the Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of this fight will be fighting for the vacant WBO 175-lb belt against the winner of the Umar Salamov vs. Maxim Vlasov contest.
Eleider is ready to put himself back in position tonight for a title shot by beating the 30-year-old hard-hitting Smith Jr. This is a dangerous fight for Alvarez, as Smith is one of the hardest punchers in the 175-lb division, and he’s also a lot younger.
With Smith’s power, you can never count him out of a fight, as even when he’s losing, he’s able to get back into the contest at any moment.
In tonight’s chief support, former WBA World middleweight champion Rob Brant (25-2, 17 KOs) will be fighting Vitalii Kopylenko (828-2, 16 KOs) in a 10 round affair. Brant, 29, is fighting for the first time since losing his WBA ‘regular’ 160-lb title to Ryota Murata last year in July.
Kopylenko, 36, lost his last fight to Steven Butler by a 10 round split decision in May of 2019 in Las Vegas.
Also on tonight’s card, the always exciting Clay Collard will be fighting as well as Duke Ragan
