Joe Smith Jr v Maxim Vlasov 4/10 ESPN

[donnydarkoIRL]

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.

[donnydarkoIRL]

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.

[donnydarkoIRL]

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.

[Spicoli]

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.

[SlimTrae]

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!
7-5 Vlasov

[donnydarkoIRL]

@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.