ALL THE ACTION
Jack Hirsch sees Bivol survive a rough moment to beat Smith
Bivol handles Smith, while Shawn Porter holds on to WBC welter crown
THE old-timers used to call it the
great equaliser – when a man far behind on points erases that deficit by landing a fight-altering punch. As the rounds went by it became apparent that would be Joe Smith’s only chance to unseat WBA light-heavyweight champion
Dmitry Bivol.
Smith rushed in behind a jab, but was being picked apart. Yet to his credit he remained on task and kept trying to get into position to land his big right. In the fourth he did - and Bivol was temporarily shaken along the ropes. Although the champion was not in dire trouble, Smith went all out, realising he might not get an opportunity like that again.
Bivol held and the crisis quickly passed, but Smith sensed there was a breakthrough. “I hurt him,” he said to his cornermen at the end of the round. But the Long Island fighter could not build on that brief success, and in the seventh he nearly went down after Bivol tagged him with a left hook.
Smith’s frustration was evident in the ninth when he body-slammed Bivol. Referee Gary Rosato warned Smith, which at that stage was as good as taking a point away so far behind was he.
Bivol was coasting as the seconds ticked down to end the 10th round when Smith came over the top with a right that landed on the champion’s ear just as the bell rang. Bivol walked unsteadily back to his corner and later admitted he was hurt.
Smith’s fans at the Turning Stone Casino (Matchroom promoted) urged him on as he chased after Bivol like a wounded animal in the 11th, but the champion smartly kept his distance, controlling the action. Then with seconds to go in the last he surprised Smith by launching an all-out attack of his own. Smith was badly hurt in the corner and literally a punch away from being stopped when the final bell rang.
There was no suspense waiting for the scores to be read: all favoured Bivol at 118-110 (Don Trella), and 119-109 (Glen Feldman and Tom Schreck).
Bivol has a vast array of options including a move down to 168lbs, a weight he says he can easily make which puts Callum Smith in his sights.
WBO super-lightweight champion
Maurice Hooker came desperately close to forfeiting his title on the scales, but on his fourth and final try got down to the 140lb limit. This probably weakened him to a degree, but his opponent Brooklyn’s Mikkel Lespierre
lacked the talent and power to take advantage.
Hooker, from Dallas, understandably set a slow early pace as he conserved energy. He outboxed Lespierre, who moved forward but was not putting on any meaningful pressure.
When body blows dropped the challenger in the ninth the end seemed near, but with his face swollen Lespierre fought back gamely to make it to the final bell where he was a unanimous loser for judges Eric Marlinski at 120107, Don Ackerman 119-108, and John Mckaie 118-109. Benjy Esteves refereed.
An interested spectator at ringside was Hooker’s mandatory challenger Jack Catterall, who flew in from the UK for the fight.
“It was a good performance but I can’t say it was perfect,” said the UK’S Callum Johnson after he steamrolled Long Beach’s Seanie Monaghan, stopping him at 23 seconds of the third round of a light-heavyweight 10. It is hard to see how Johnson could have performed better as he cut and hurt Monaghan badly in the first, then dropped him twice in the second round. Monaghan never got untracked and was pummelled in the corner at the start of the third before referee Charlie Fitch finally halted it.
As shown on this evening and in his world title loss to Artur Beterbiev, the 33-year-old Johnson has the strength and power to pose a serious threat to anyone he faces.
Sergey Kuzmin, the Russian who beat David Price last September when the Scouser quit with an injury, got another useful victory but failed to distinguish himself in doing so. Kuzmin was slow and sloppy in winning a majority 10-round decision over Philadelphia’s Joey Dawejko.
Ackerman had it 95-95, Marlinski and Feldman both 96-94 for Kuzmin on scorecards that were surprisingly close. Rosato refereed.
THE VERDICT A Bivol-callum Smith showdown would be fascinating if it came off.