Title fight: Joe Smith Jr. vs Maxim Vlasov, WBO light heavyweight title.
Joe “The Irish Bomber” Smith Jr. vs Maxim “The Kill” Vlasov fight for WBO light heavyweight title on Saturday, February 13, 2021. The great event is most probable to take place in Las Vegas. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum commented on the fight “This is Rocky IV come to life.”
Comparing the two boxers, American boxer Smith Jr. is 31-years-old, fights in orthodox stance, and has a height of 6-feet. Meanwhile, Russian Boxer Vlasov is 34-years-old, also fights in orthodox stance, and has a height of 6-foot-3½. As we can see, Vlasov has a significant advantage over Smith Jr. in terms of height.
Smith Jr started his career in 2009, while Vlasov in 2005. Smith Jr. has a boxing record 26-3 with 21 KO’S, on the contrary Vlasov more experience with a boxing record 45-3 with 26 KO’s. Very interesting is that both contenders lost 3 matches during their careers.
Another interesting factor that unites The Irish Bomber and The Kill is that Smith Jr. has a WBO-NABO light heavyweight title while Vlasov, has WBC global light heavyweight champion title.
The latest fights of Smith Jr. showed that he has been able to win without knockouts. On the other hand, what Vlasov brings to the ring are overpowered brutal punches and incredible durability.
The most triggering and mysterious part of the upcoming fight is that during his last fight, The Irish Bomber won against Eleider Alvarez by technical knockout (TKO) on Saturday, August 22, 2020 meanwhile, The Kill, made a victory over his opponent, Emmanuel Martey, through unanimous decision (UD) on Monday, November 30, 2019.