Joe Smith Jr v Maxim Vlasov 4/10 ESPN

Another Stateside card this weekend. This was originally set for Feb but had to be rescheduled when the Covid got a hold of Vlasov. Smith is coming off of a brutal tko over Eleider Alvarez and the vacant wbo trinket is up for grabs. A win for Smith here positions the legit big bomber perfectly for a possible all title unification at 175 with another Arum fighter, Artur Beterbiev! I'd pay for that :-X. Vlasov looks to flip the script.

Co main has heavyweight Efe Ajagba taking on 15-4 Brian Howard. Look..I like Ajagba but I don't know what they're doing with these recycling center type match ups for him. He's only 4 yrs in and most young'ish Hvys are guilty of some padding but if ol Efe struggles too much with a guy who's been ko'd at both 190 and 175 well they might want to put Ajagba in a protective bubble. Chance to shine hear for him and up his finishing instincts.

https://youtu.be/R2Hqyw1Ga9U

Young heavyweight Jared Anderson on the undercard not sure when, good to see. At a career high weight :-X. Honestly though I'm not so sure the 8-0 Anderson has many disadvantages against the more hyped co main eventer Efe Ajagba right now.

Jerimiah 'The Bullfrog' Karpency gets the honor tonight. Wouldn't blink in this one Anderson just adding the padding.

2 body shots and Karpency takes a knee. Up at the count of 9. His highlight will be making it out of the opening round but this is all but done.

Same shot for Anderson in 2nd down he goes and takes full count. Even the ref says "he got you in the same spot huh". Time for Jared to up the comp big time.

If anything makes U.S fans searching for future heavyweights do a double take it's another guy nicknamed "Big Baby" wearing a Chefs jacket and hat in and out of the ring ;D. Please..please..just don't give us another overhyped fatty who blows it. But I think Anderson has something going should be good to watch.

Two cards going at once haven't had that in awhile.

Hate to do it but have little hope for the Ajagba train. Into 2nd with Howard. He's just so mechanical and stiff, very little natural fluidity. Howard clipping him in these ugly mauling clinches. Guess OK has opened up for full fan compacity looks like a decent crowd.

Howard left on all fours and done after Ajagba drills him with a massive straight right hand, one and done! That's what he needed to do. Man that was an ugly KO

Consider the opponent but that was a nasty nasty ko. Howard looked like a puppet that had his strings cut. Literal collapse and o.u.t.

Main event time. Do Americans even watch boxing anymore???. This should actually be a solid fight.

Nice 1st for Vlasov with the jazz-hands Sergio Martinez impression, feints Smith out of position once or twice. Closes strong and leaves Smith winging a left hand blindly.

Vlasov landing cleanly and Smith now cut left eye. Ohhh big right hand stops Vlasov for a moment but he's back on it. Smith is in some deep waters in just the 2nd. Vlasov leaving himself dangerously open when he throws left off the hip. Another shot catches him and stands him still at rounds end.

Ok not full fan capacity at all but hey it's a start. Ref on Smith again for back of the head. Sneaky uppercut clips Smith inside and Smith at times looks like a guy trying to catch a firefly. Round 3 Vlasov

Keep getting the '504 gateway time out' here trying to post. Pain in the arse to score. Vlasov looks in control with occasional shot from Smith but little more. Interesting to see stamina of Vlasov as it goes.

504 again ffs and missing the fight trying to re post :p;D. I switch back and suddenly Vlasov is badly hurt, his eye is fucked and bleeding from the mouth. Tide turn

Smith beginning to punch through him a bit and working strong jab in 8th. Vlasov getting physical pushing him back but very little on his punches. Smith needs to go all out over next 4 rounds and get him outta there.

Vlasov 9th Smith freely backing to corners. Real hard combo snaps Smith around. Nice bounce back round Vlasov, Smith needs to KO no doubt about it.

Smith looks spent and left eye is tattered. Vlasov 10th really walking him down here.

504 site sloooooooow again. So Maj dec for Smith ??? apparently. This was a terrible BS decision. Smith did not win that fight no way no how.

Just watching this fight this morning...
3 rounds in, Smith cut and getting tuned up apart from the occasional hit&hppe right overhand.

Talk of Smith Jr vs. Beterbiev seems ludicrous.

Six rounds deep, Vlasov seems a well schooled guy, a lot of amateur pedigree/schooling on display, but not a puncher, or even a particularly strong guy.
Smith doesn't really seem to have any solution other than the right hand.

Smith Jr had Vlasov hurt in the 7th, catching him with a counter hook over Vlasovs uppercut. He went down to the body which might not have been a bad idea at all.
Big round for Smith Jr.
Commentary a bit ittitating making is sound as though Vlasov is on the way out though. Clearly he's not as he has Smith Jr. on the back foot in the 8th again.

Vlasov fresher down the stretch, threw more and hurt Smith Jr in the 9th.
The 10th was all Vlasov, Smith Jr looking tired and just trying to lumber through.

11th
Smith Jr obviously got lit up in the corner, came out very eager. Andre Ward stating he thinks this was his last stand... He's done enough to take this round, maybe hurting Vlasov to the body.
Vlasov hamming up the knock behind the head to grab himself a break.

12th
Smiths eye looked nasty in the corner between rounds.
Vlasov ahead 105 104 on Wards card.
Smith Jr definitely more active early and Vlasov glancing up at the clock, but scoring some cleaner shots.

I actually though Vlasov won the fight.
I thought he did the better work, maybe eight rounds to four...
Maybe that was a bit harsh on Smith, but I didn't see. A whole lot of clean scoring from him.

Top notch insight bud and couldn't agree more. Posts started getting dropped halfway through but I cannot see any way Smith 'took' this decision and Vlasov more than earned it I felt. Tale of two styles...the ohhs and awws of the occasional big bomb from Smith and the constant work rate and controlling the ring, keeping Smith backing up, of Vlasov. I'm not one to run yelling robbery and conspiracy but this was just shady. I do think and replay showed Vlasov was indeed hit behind the head in 11th and the round turned into a clustrfk of a mess. The shady part comes in when the Top Rank executive and the local promoter are literally jumping up and down all along ringside on live tv chastising and yelling at the referee and then shown to be hovering over the shoulders of a judge and replay officials. That is not the first time this has happened recently. No points were taken by the referee but then when the official scorecards were made public this morning one judge "opted" to make the 11th a 10-8 round for Smith ???. A 10 point must system has the option for a judge if they feel it was an utterly dominate battering by one fighter minus a ruled KD but this felt like more of an insurance policy type deduction. What kind of crooked BS is that. They had all the talk up of Beterbiev v Smith going in but the only thing that should take place is an immediate rematch being ordered. There are robberies..and there are close fights..but this was not a 'coin flip that could have gone either way' type fight. I picked and wanted Smith to win this one but I had Vlasov winning clear 8-4 maybe 7-5 and I believe that may be generous.

Glad to know I'm not in the minority. I would've given it to Vlasov.

I saw punchstats before the fight, maybe that played some bias with me as the majority of what Smith landed were certain rounds and not throughout the fight.
& that eye didn't help sway me either. Yeah it did!;D
7-5 Vlasov

@Spicoli
Yeah, when decisions are that poor it takes all the good out of the sport.
It was a business decision really, simple as that :(

@SlimTrae
Yeah, 7-5 sounds fair, I was thinking maybe 8-4, but that could be a bit harsh.