Sunday, January 16, 2022

Boxing Challenge: Smith breaks down Geffrard

    Joe Smith methodically broke down late replacement Steve Geffrard and stopped Geffrard early in the ninth round to retain his WBO light heavyweight title in Verona, New York.

Geffrard did score on occasion early as Smith attacked in the first three rounds but he wasn't able to keep Smith from keeping Geffrard off the ropes, where Smith crunched Geffard to the body and pounded his arms as his answer to the high guard defense used by Geffrard.

Geffrard complained to his corner about an injury to his left arm in between the sixth and seventh round and it seemed that Geffrard had put his best into the fight and his gas tank was empty.

Smith hurt Geffard near the end of the eighth and charged out in the ninth to batter Geffarrd with a flurry of shots that were intended to land rather than land explosively and the tactic with Geffrard going to a knee in the corner with seemingly no intention of rising before trainer Kevin Cunningham signaled his approval for the fight to be stopped.

I had Smith winning every round, although Geffrard could have been given the third, so all things considered, it could have been a larger mismatch than it actually was.

Smith gets a win and some rust off his engine and hopefully, his next fight would be a unification match against WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev.

However, different sources have other fighters in that slot against Smith as Eddie Hearn is trying to get the date for Daniel Jacobs and Frank Warren has stated that Anthony Yarde has been promised the next chance at Smith, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Beterbiev to be next in line.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica, Vince Samano, and I all earned two points for the win.

I didn't receive a pick from C.J. Burney so no points there.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano 6 pts

TRS 5 pts

C.J.Burney 4 pts


 

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