BoxRec

$180k is damn good money for a relative unknown who prior to Hopkins had 1 big win on a card that nobody watched. Should be good enough to quit his day job if he can bring in those paydays regularly. If he fights Pascal in Canada he could probably do even better.

Agree that he should be avoiding the big guys like Ward, Kovalev, Stevenson, and Gvozdyk for at least his next couple of fights.

He will fight Monaghan next. A fight he should win. After that I suspect they'll cash him out in Canada against Adonis or Pascal. They're obviously not letting him go anywhere near Kovalev, Ward unless the money is outrageous. Beterbiev and Gvodzyk will be avoided surely as they're 2 guys who will handle him and the money will be crap.

Yeah it'd definitely be best for Joe Smith's people to be patient for a while and not take the first offers that come along. With 2 marquee wins to his credit, and a reputation as a beatable opponent some big money opportunities will almost certainly come his way. Big money opportunities come to guys for less reasons than that a lot of the time.

I think he has a very good chance of beating Pascal, so I'm not sure I'd say a Pascal fight in Canada is "cashing him out" per se.

He could potentially beat Stevenson too, but that's just because Stevenson is damn near 40 and hasn't fought a tough opponent in a really long time.

Smith/Chavez Jr would be enticing.

I wouldn't mind seeing him in the ring against Seanie Monaghan

Gvozdyk or Chavez jr.

If I was managing him I'd try and build his fan base even more with another 2 or 3 fights in New York, make him a decent sized name and attraction. Monaghan, Browne, Williams Jr, Dawson, even Karpency - I'd imagine all of those would sell fairly well? If both he and Fonfara were to get a couple more wins under their belts I'd actually be interested in seeing a rematch where they both went in 50/50. I highly doubt he'll ever have enough to trouble Ward or Kovalev but a Cleverly fight that WBA belt would be good. He might even catch Adonis on the wrong side of 40 and get a win there, who knows.

The thing with Smith is that both of his big wins have question marks surrounding them. Did he catch Fonfara cold? Was Hopkins completely finished? We can't be 100% sure which means we don't really know his level, so part of me hopes that he doesn't get thrown in too quickly against Ward or Kovalev, as long as he doesn't go back to knocking over journeymen.

It's real easy for fans to get over excited about a boxer like Joe Smith after a couple of big wins and i'm trying not to take the bate but I can't help it. I like this kid a lot. I love the rags to riches storylines and who knows? We might be witnessing something epic with this kid.

He's got the tools for sure. I'd love to see someone stake him and move him to Vegas or LA to train with one of the top guys for a fight. Unfortunately, i'm sure they will move along too fast to cash in on his appeal. If this kid developed a jab and some better head movement then he could be a top fighter at LH I think. He's shown some great poise in two straight televised fights as an underdog. That's impressive. Get him with a better trainer, full time, and match him up lightly for a few fights. That's what my plan would be.

Vs. JCC Jr.

He's very strong. Naturally strong, big back on a lean frame. His style is crude though, reminds me of someone like Iran Barkely stylistically. I reckon he could beat Nathan Cleverly. Other than that I see him being competitive but can't say I favour him against the other champs. Hopefully he can train full time and get some big names, make some money, he can bang so any fight with him is interesting.

Stevenson would be an interesting fight.