Smith Jr. can beat Beterbiev easy if he boxes says Bozy Ennis

By Boxing News - 06/18/2022 - Comments

By Craig Daly: Trainer Bozy Ennis believes WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr. can easily defeat IBF/WBC champion Artur Beterbiev tonight if he boxes & moves through most of the contest.

Bozy sees Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) as there to beat as long as Smith (28-3, 22 KOs) stays on the outside, punches, moves, and ties him up all night.

Ennis feels that the guys that Beterbiev has knocked out were fighters that tried to brawl with him, which played to his strengths. The two-time Olympian Beterbiev is a brawler, and he’s in his element when his opponents try and slug.

“That’s a good fight. If Joe Smith boxes, move and ties him up, he can beat him, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think Beterbiev will wind up knocking Joe Smith out,” said Bozy Ennis to YSM Sports Media on tonight’s Artur Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith Jr. fight.

It’s difficult to imagine Smith using movement, and boxing Beterbiev because that’s not a style that he’s ever used during his career.

“He [Beterbiev] can be beat. I give it a 50-50, but like I said, if Joe Smith box and use his range, he’ll beat him easy,” Ennis continued. “But if he don’t, he’ll get knocked out.

“At the beginning, box and move, hit him, tie him up, box him, frustrate him. Then later on when it seems like he’s getting a little tired and getting frustrated, that’s when I take the lead and try and take him out,” said Ennis on what Smith Jr. must do to beat Beterbiev.

“Body and the head, but go to the body first. After the jab up top, go to the body. That’s what I’m going to do. Break him down. Yes, he is, that’s what I’m saying,” Ennis said in agreeing that Joe Smith is a puncher.

“Yes, he can [get Beterbiev out early]. He can knock him out early if he hits him right, he’s going to sleep. Try and bang with him. You seen Marcus Browne trying to bang with him,” Ennis said when asked what mistakes fighters make when they battle Beterbiev.

“He didn’t start running out of gas until Beterbiev put pressure on him. That’s another thing. You got to be in condition when you fight a guy like him. You got to be in top condition because he can take a punch. You might knock him down, but he gets back up.

“I lay my money on Joe Smith,” said Ennis when asked who he would bet on in tonight’s fight between Beterbiev and Smith. “Beterbiev comes right at you and he can get caught. Yeah, Joe Smith can punch.

“I like [David] Benavidez against him [Beterbiev], and who else? I think that’s a 50-50,” Ennis said about a fight between Beterbiev and Canelo Alvarez. “That’s a good fight. I think Bivol has a chance to beat him. That’s another 50-50,” said Ennis.

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