Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2019-03-09, pretty good fight between Dmitry Bivol and Joe Smith Jr: it gets three stars.The undefeated Wba light-Hw champion Dmitry Bivol entered this fight with a perfect record of 15-0-0 (11 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.3 light heavyweight in the world (currently the #1 in this division is Oleksandr Gvozdyk). He fought three times last year winning over Sullivan Barrera (Dmitry Bivol vs Sullivan Barrera), Isaac Chilemba (Dmitry Bivol vs Isaac Chilemba) and Jean Pascal (Dmitry Bivol vs Jean Pascal).
His opponent, Joe Smith Jr, has a boxing record of 24-2-0 (20 KOs=83%) and he entered as the No.17 in the same weight class. He lost to Sullivan Barrera in 2017 (Joe Smith Jr vs Sullivan Barrera) but he came back to win in 2018 against Melvin Russell (Joe Smith Jr vs Melvin Russell). Bivol vs Smith is valid for the WBA World light heavyweight title. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2019-03-09
Where: Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, New York, USA
Division: light heavyweight (175 lbs, 79.4 kg)
Title: WBA World light heavyweight title
Bivol’s previous fight: Dmitry Bivol vs Jean Pascal
Smith’s previous fight: Joe Smith Jr vs Melvin Russell
Bivol’s next fight: Dmitry Bivol vs Lenin Castillo
Smith’s next fight: Jesse Hart vs Joe Smith Jr
Bivol vs Smith full fight video:
(Free embeddable video hosted on Youtube/dailymotion and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUwtQEDfCJE
Official video
bivol footwork and distance control will be hard to beat. best chance is to get him early
It was a big size difference that Bivol managed quite well. He shown better techniques and mobility combined with a better punch accuracy. Smith was quite frustrated but after reaching the middle of the bout he assumed his defeat.