Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
In the biggest fight of his career, Artur Beterbiev boxed a masterpiece to destroy Joe Smith Jr. at 2:19 of the second round.
Russian Beterbiev’s shorter and straighter punches found the target early in the first round as a right hand on the temple fell the American for the first time of his career.
Smith fought back with fury and desperation but his skills and techniques were not in the league of Beterbiev. Three knockdowns later – the first two from right hands to the side of the head and then the uppercut deathblow – and the one-sided unification bout was emphatically decided. It was one of the most impressive light heavyweight title victories in history which sparked ring observers to wonder and fantasize how on earth would Bob Foster, Archie Moore, Michael Spinks, Michael Moorer, Dwight Braxton, Antonio Tarver and Roy Jones deal with this Montreal-based human wrecking machine?
“Joe is a little open and it was easy to get to him,” said the winner and two time Olympian, who improved his record to 18-0 with 18 knockouts. “Two fighters that both have good punch, and I was lucky to get first. I have two unification fights, I prefer unified. I prefer to be undisputed.”
Beterbiev now must be considered one of the top three pound for pound best fighters in the world with Terence Crawford, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Dmitry Bivol and Monster Inouye, and if he continues his pattern of showing improvement in each fight vs. high quality opposition, you have to wonder if this unique athlete is simply unbeatable at 175 pounds?
