Dmitry Bivol vs Joe Smith Jr

[handsofstone]

Bivol defends his WBA Light Heavyweight title against Smith Jr this weekend on sky, not the big unification we want but still an ok fight, stylistically it should gel well, Smith Jr will give it his best and probably put in a better effort against Bivol than Chilemba and Pascal who although took Bivol, the distance were comfortably beaten, Smith Jr's aggrieve style probably means for me that Bivol can stop him, I know Bivol's power has taking a bit of criticism lately but I still think he hits hard but just is a boxer first and foremost

I haven't seen Smith Jr since Barrera broke his jaw and beat him up, he showed a lot of heart that night and done well to last the distance, I think his style plays right into Bivol's hands though and with Bivol's power he can stop him early or late if he lands clean to head or body, Smith Jr has shown durability though so I'm thinking Bivol will stop him late on after putting on a sustained beating on Smith Jr

[Ruthless-RKO]

Russia’s Bivol, 28, officially weighed 173½ pounds for their 175-pound championship match. The 29-year-old Smith, of Mastic, New York, was slightly lighter than Bivol (173 pounds).

[Ricky]

Bivol has been in with Pascal and Chilemba in his last 2; neither guy is easy to stop by any means. So it's no knock Bivols power other than "he doesn't hit as hard as Kovalev"... that's a bit like saying he doesn't run as fast as Usian Bolt.

Not seen anything of Smith in truth than him punching Bhop out the ring and into retirement

[ElJefe]

After stopping Bernard and dropping Barrera in the first I think Smith Jr (understandably) may have fell in love with his power a bit. Either that or Barrera, who is a good fighter, just showed his superior skills. Hoping to land the money shot against Bivol probably won't work out well for him. I'm not sure he has it in him but he'll have to at least try to set things up with his boxing. Even in the Hopkins fight I thought he looked a bit stiff technically.

[handsofstone]

Like the Hooker/LesPierre fight this was one sided but this was a lot more enjoyable fight to watch purely just to see Bivol go about his work, he oozes class, timing, footwork, judgement of distance and punch picking is just quality, whether he be leading off or countering its just class, good solid jab, lead left hook was probably his best weapon of the night whether leaping in with it or countering

Smith Jr looked massive compared to Bivol and gave it a go as you knew he would but apart from wobbling Bivol right at the end of the 10th, he was dominated throughout, he can take a shot though but Bivol looked like he had finally got him before the bell ended the fight, 119-109 for me

Bivol would be even better at Super Middleweight I reckon, him and Golovkin would be an excellent match up

[NoScoutingReports]

Hope Bivol stays at 175 & takes part in unification fights but it would be interesting to see how he goes at SMW, certainly not the biggest LHW & seems confident he could drop a weight class comfortably. Quality operator.

[jamamb]

who else is there for bivol to fight on dazn with so many of the good lhws elsewhere

gotta think bivol might fight cal johnson

[tobyh5]

I hope he drops to 168 and relieves Smith of his belt

[keirw]

who else is there for bivol to fight on dazn with so many of the good lhws elsewhere

gotta think bivol might fight cal johnson

I wouldn't fancy Johnson's chances one bit in that fight. Rather see Johnson fight Smith Jnr tbh.

Bivol will struggle to get a unification unless the sanctioning bodies get involved as they do on occasion. He may well be better off dropping down and fighting Callum Smith.

[kbackup408]

Bivol is so fundamentally sound, if he ever fights Gvozdyk that will be a super fight for us boxing nuts!