Artur Beterbiev vs. Joe Smith | ESPN - June 18, 2022

[KiwiRider]

Yes Art should win this as he’s not looking old just yet, far from it.
but Joe worth a bet at those odds, I went smith for the KO at 9/1. Also because that bad cut Art had could become a factor as the rounds go by.

9/1 is what I got. Hard to refuse, and quite frankly surprising considering what Brillo posted above- Beter is fallible, and I think easily Smith bangs as hard as Callum J.

[Jack 1000]

Beterbeiv TKO 8. (Cuts)

Smith will come out fighting and will give an excellent effort. I feel he got a huge gift decision against Vlassov There might be a surprise or two along the way. But I sense a mid-round beat-down.

Who are the judges and ref?

Jack

[Ruthless-RKO]

Stats and Stakes

Artur Beterbiev

Age: 37
Titles: IBF Light Heavyweight (2017-Present, 5 Defenses); Lineal/TBRB/WBC Light Heavyweight (2019-Present, 2 Defenses)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’11 ½
Weight: 175 lbs.
Stance: Orthodox
Hails from: Khasavyurt, Russia
Record: 17-0, 17 KO
Record in Major Title Fights: 6-0, 6 KO
Last Five Opponents: 101-3-1 (.967)
Notable Outcomes, TBRB and/or Ring Rated Foes: Tavoris Cloud KO2; Gabriel Campillo KO4; Oleksandr Gvozdyk TKO10; Marcus Browne KO9
Additional Current/Former Titlists Faced: None

vs.

Joe Smith Jr.

Age: 32
Current Title: WBO Light Heavyweight (2021-Present, 1 Defense)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 6’0
Weight: 174 ½ lbs.
Stance: Orthodox
Hails from: Long Island, New York
Record: 28-3, 22 KO, 1 KOBY
Press Rankings: #2 (TBRB), #3 (Ring, BoxRec), #4 (ESPN)
Record in Major Title Fights: 2-1 (1 KO)
Last Five Opponents: 129-8 (.942)
Notable Outcomes, TBRB and/or Ring Rated Foes: Andrzej Fonfara TKO1; Sullivan Barrera L10; Dmitry Bivol L12; Jesse Hart SD10; Eleider Alvarez TKO9
Additional Current/Former Titlists Faced: Bernard Hopkins KO8

[Fightnight Scores]

Beterbiev is an animal. He's been hurt and got up to walk right through Johnson who was quite the puncher himself.
Smith has the preverbial punchers chance, but I'm definitely more swayed for the Beterbiev stoppage into the second half of the fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Would anyone be surprised if the fights ends before rd6?

[bobcatbox]

Tonight is the night boys!

I’m predicting Joe by TKO in rd 11.

[Fightnight Scores]

Would anyone be surprised if the fights ends before rd6?

No, and that's why I've only had a very small, few £ double on Beterbiev to win rounds 7-12 & Robeisy Ramirez by decision (odds around 2.5/1)

[NateJR]

Mismatch. Beterbiev knocks him out with little trouble.

i dunno my man, bert is right in front of opponents and unlike vlasov, who constantly moved his head, bert's head is a static target. vlasov also scored mainly with long straight shots, but bert is several inches shorter than vlas and is more a short punch guy.

although bert is better than vlasov, i think styles help smith be in with a live shot against him. smith has power and a good chin, and that can go far vs an opponent who is in front of him trading punches. bert has been wild and caught and dropped before, if he engages in a fire fight as hes done in the past he could be surprised

joe smith has scored had least 4 upsets (alvarez, fonfara, hopkins, hart), so he's used to winning when people doubt him

[Cent0089]

37 years old, went to two olympics, being champion of the world with 100% KO ratio and told in the post fight interview: I want to be a good boxer one day" LOL

[DrDuke]

37 years old, went to two olympics, being champion of the world with 100% KO ratio and told in the post fight interview: I want to be a good boxer one day" LOL

A mentality of a true athlete.

[margaret thatcher]

Mismatch. Beterbiev knocks him out with little trouble.

i dunno my man, bert is right in front of opponents and unlike vlasov, who constantly moved his head, bert's head is a static target. vlasov also scored mainly with long straight shots, but bert is several inches shorter than vlas and is more a short punch guy.

although bert is better than vlasov, i think styles help smith be in with a live shot against him. smith has power and a good chin, and that can go far vs an opponent who is in front of him trading punches. bert has been wild and caught and dropped before, if he engages in a fire fight as hes done in the past he could be surprised

joe smith has scored had least 4 upsets (alvarez, fonfara, hopkins, hart), so he's used to winning when people doubt him

congrats to you my man, and to the 74 percent who picked bert by ko, yawl nailed it

[NateJR]

i dunno my man, bert is right in front of opponents and unlike vlasov, who constantly moved his head, bert's head is a static target. vlasov also scored mainly with long straight shots, but bert is several inches shorter than vlas and is more a short punch guy.

although bert is better than vlasov, i think styles help smith be in with a live shot against him. smith has power and a good chin, and that can go far vs an opponent who is in front of him trading punches. bert has been wild and caught and dropped before, if he engages in a fire fight as hes done in the past he could be surprised

joe smith has scored had least 4 upsets (alvarez, fonfara, hopkins, hart), so he's used to winning when people doubt him

congrats to you my man, and to the 74 percent who picked bert by ko, yawl nailed it

When you're wrong like me all the time you have to let it known when you're finally right for once. Live with 3 girls and I'm always wrong, this is my safe place.

[apollo creed]

37 years old, went to two olympics, being champion of the world with 100% KO ratio and told in the post fight interview: I want to be a good boxer one day" LOL

thats some subtle trolling from AB

[AngryGoon38]

Beterbiev proved me Wrong, Big-time !
I predicted he'd win, but that it'd go into the Much Later rounds.
Tko-11 was my actual prediction.
He walked right through the Tough and Strong Joe Smith Jr, like he was made out of butter.
"Beterbiev vs Bivol" is now "THE BOUT" !
Can Bivol offset The Amazingly Crushing and precision Methodical offensive Barrage of The Mighty Artur..?!

As far as that other headliner bout, The featherweight bout.
Ramirez Really proved me Wrong, Big-time !
I thought the size difference would be just too much for the heavy-handed 5'5 Mighty LiL Warrior.
His style reminds me of Sergio Martinez. The way he Really Loads up with those lefty sidearm punches.
The leverage that he generates with that left hand sidearm Haymarket is So reminiscent of "Sergio Martinez".
I'd Love to see "Inoue vs Ramirez". That'd be a Bigtime Barn-Burner of a scrap !

[bbb636]

I had beterbiev by decision..never expected to be that fast!
Smith putting pressure made Beterbiev Stronger.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I had beterbiev by decision..never expected to be that fast!
Smith putting pressure made Beterbiev Stronger.

That is when Bert excels the most. The monster comes out.

[Enlightened-One]

A brief summary of my interpretation of the outcome of the Beterbiev-Smith Jr. bout…

The Russian delivered a flawless performance, by doing what he had to do to get the job done.

But Smith Jr's tactics allowed Beterbiev’s performance to superficially appear more impressive than it really was, with the American naively trading with a bigger puncher, whilst also being defensively irresponsible.

Don’t get me wrong, Beterbiev deserves kudos and praise for beating Smith Jr. He should be applauded for scoring a quicker than expected stoppage.

It’s just that the American’s appalling gameplan was easy to exploit. Smith Jr. was literally begging for Beterbiev to repeatedly hit him on the chin with his biggest blows.

The outcome immediately seemed inevitable to any experienced boxing observer. The writing was on the proverbial wall from the get-go.

For the record, I’m not trying to undermine Beterbiev’s accomplishment, but I really can’t help thinking that Smith Jr. severely underperformed.

Anyway, I still feel that Canelo and Bivol both beat Beterbiev.

[Ruthless-RKO]

DeGuardia: Beterbiev Was Hitting To The Back Of The Head; We Were Concerned About That

“I’ve never seen Joe hurt like that,” DeGuardia told BS.com. “And again, you know, obviously I give Beterbiev credit. He’s a real fighter and a skilled, precise fighter. But we spoke to the referee beforehand. We didn’t like the idea of shots on the back of the head. We were concerned about that. I mean, I saw the last punch was on the back of the head. I saw a couple before. I know the referee warned him once, but you know, look, all in all, you can’t take anything away from Beterbiev. He’s a great fighter.”

“We knew going into the fight you’ve got two punchers and anything could happen quickly,” DeGuardia said. “A lot of analysts said, and they had a right, whoever’s gonna hit first and get that right shot in first, you know, could set the whole fight. And that’s really what happened. I think if Joe lands one of his punches or bombs, it’s a different story. But Beterbiev landed. You know, that’s it.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Arum on Beterbiev-Bivol: 'We Ain't Doing a Fight On Dead-Zone (DAZN) - Nobody Watches It!'

"One thing with Beterbiev is that now that he is known to the public and so many people have seen him, we ain’t doing a fight on ‘Dead-Zone’ which nobody watches,” Arum told BS.com shortly after Beterbiev knocked out Smith.

“So, again, we’ll see,” Arum said. “I think that when the time comes even Eddie will have Bivol come over and fight Beterbiev for a big audience.”

“Yarde and Beterbiev will fight in London,” Arum said. “I talked this morning with [Yarde’s promoter] allegedly who will be the co-promoter there. We’re planning for a big night at the O2 Arena.”

[apollo creed]

lol

Bivol is in a great spotlight on DAZN. Canelo 2, maybe Zurdo Ramirez, Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith are very good matches for Bivol.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Beterbiev-Smith Main Event Drew Average Audience Of 912,000 Viewers On ESPN

Artur Beterbiev’s power surge in the ring was met with a ratings spike among home viewers.

The June 18 edition of Top Rank Boxing on ESPN fired on all cylinders, including a main event where an average of 912,000 viewers tuned in for Beterbiev’s second-round, technical knockout of Joe Smith Jr. Beterbiev defended his unified lineal/WBC/IBF light heavyweight championship while violently snatching Smith’s WBO title in Saturday’s headliner at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City.

The two-fight telecast—which began on time at 10:00 p.m. ET and lasted just 86 minutes—averaged 753,000 viewers according to Nielsen Media Research, marking the third best performing ESPN boxing card of 2022. Nielsen-reported ratings for the main event and the telecast as a whole do not include viewership from other ESPN platforms, including ESPN Deportes and streaming service ESPN+, both of which provided live coverage of the televised doubleheader.

The show as a whole improved by nearly 36% above its predecessor one week prior involving the same network, promoter and venue, with the June 11 show averaging just 555,000 viewers.

Headlining the June 11 show from MSG’s Hulu Theater, unbeaten Nuyorican super middleweight Edgar Berlanga (20-0, 16KOs) outpointed former two-time title challenger Roamer Alexis Angulo (27-3, 23KOs) over ten rounds. The main event didn’t begin until 12:13 a.m. ET, with the bout averaging just 504,000 viewers and peaking at 515,000 viewers.

The delayed telecast and post-midnight headliner resulted in viewership dramatically decreasing, as the show’s opening segment averaged 784,000 viewers before a punch was thrown. The figure was largely spill-over from a lead-in NHL Eastern Conference Final game between Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers whose telecast drew an average audience of 2,837,000 viewers and a peak viewership of 3,789,000.

Saturday’s offering enjoyed a far more positive trend. The boxing telecast outperformed its televised lead-in, a well-received UFC Fight Night which drew an average audience of 716,000 viewers. Viewership increased from the start of the Top Rank show, with two-time Olympic Gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez’s stunning, fifth-round knockout of unbeaten Abraham Nova averaging 738,000 viewers over the course of their featherweight contest.

Minimal time was wasted between the co-feature and the main event, fitting given the brief but emphatic performance delivered by Beterbiev (18-0, 18KOs)—a two-time Russian Olympian who moved to Montreal upon turning pro in 2013. The win marked his earliest knockout in seven career title fights dating back to his 12th round stoppage of Enrick Koelling to win the vacant IBF light heavyweight title in November 2017.

Beterbiev added the WBC title three fights into his reign, knocking out unbeaten Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their October 2019 unification bout which averaged 635,000 viewers. Just two title defenses followed for the unbeaten Chechen fighter—a tenth-round stoppage of IBF mandatory Adam Deines last March in Moscow, and a ninth-round stoppage of WBC mandatory challenger Marcus Browne last December 17 in Montreal.

The win over Deines aired in primetime in Moscow but in the afternoon in the U.S. during the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament, resulting in just 287,000 viewers watching Beterbiev’s fourth successful title defense. His victory over Browne last December aired exclusively on ESPN+, due to ESPN’s linear network carrying an already scheduled NBA doubleheader.

Smith (28-4, 22KOs) saw his title reign end after 14 months, with just one successful defense wedged in between.

The blue-collar light heavyweight from the Mastic Beach section of Long Island, New York won the WBO belt in a decision win over Maxim Vlasov last April 10, with the ESPN-televised main event averaging 506,000 viewers and peaking at 541,000 toward the end of the twelve-round title fight.

Smith’s lone defense came in a ninth-round stoppage of Steve Geffrard, a late replacement for England’s Callum Johnson who withdrew from the January 15 title fight due to testing positive for Covid-19. The bout topped a telecast that averaged 460,000 viewers.

Following Beterbiev’s destructive win came an industry-wide demand for an undisputed showdown with WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11KOs), who is coming off a career-best win in a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez atop a May 7 DAZN Pay-Per-View telecast from Las Vegas. The fight will have to wait out mandatory challenger obligations, with Beterbiev more likely to next face WBO number-one contender Anthony Yarde later this year in the United Kingdom.

[Cent0089]

Is this good numbers?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Is this good numbers?

It’s an increase from the Berlanga card..

And an increase from what Beterbiev-Gvozdyk did.

Tbh. Boxing on US is shambles.

10 years ago, they were consistently over 1m sometimes hitting 2m just on HBO and that was a sub channel.

ESPN is available to many homes.

Actually. Tbf.

The prelims was on ESPN+ so when the main card started which was on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes, the viewers might have stayed watching on the app.

These numbers are for the Linear channel only.

[Sweet Dick Willie]

I've watched the fight three times now, does anybody else feel the stoppage was a bit premature?

[margaret thatcher]

nah, joe couldnt stay on his feet and was all over at the end. he showed nothing to indicate he was changing the tide either. i think his head was clear but his legs wouldnt follow and he couldnt get out of the way of the shots