Joe Smith Jr MD-12 Maxim Vlasov
Joe Smith Jr. (27-3, 21 KOs) became the new WBO light heavyweight champion tonight in a controversial majority decision over Maxim Vlasov (45-4, 26 KOs) over 12 rounds of action. Official judges scored 114-114, 115-112 and 115-112 in Smith’s favor. I recorded the fight 117-111 in favor of Vlasov for BLH.
Vlasov started the fight quickly and showed the fluency and speed of his punch, which apparently overwhelmed Smith a bit – to the point where Smith withdrew for most of the fight. I had Vlasov sweep the first half of the fight by scoring accurately and consistently, while it seemed to me that Smith could clearly win too many shots for him to win rounds. Smith managed to get a few single shots that Vlasov pulled through, but Vlasov was clearly the attacker for most of the fight, and Smith covered with the ropes in search of a counter for homerun.
In the back of the fight, Smith did start joining and clearly hurt Vlasov with stains, but never officially took a knockout and Vlasov fought back bravely and put in as much effort as you would expect from a world title candidate.
But alas, it should not have been for Vlasov who got the short end of the stick on the cards. Vlasov was clearly discouraged by the official decision when it was delivered.
Efe Ajagba KO-3 Brian Howard
At the start of ESPN, heavyweight Efe Ajagba made a spectacular statement and scored a standout from Brian Howard in the third round of action. It will definitely be a knockout blow that you are going to see a lot of and it is clear that you are a Knockout of the Year candidate, if not leader. But why should I talk about it when the clip speaks for itself.
The official time of the strike was at 1:29 in the third round, but it was pretty clear that the knockout was inevitable. Ajagba was noticeably bigger and stronger than Howard and landed in the first round some big right hands that made Howard clearly shake. Howard would become a little more defensive, which could have survived him longer than he otherwise would have, but another concussion right hand eventually sat on the ground. But as emphatic and narrow as the knockout blow, Howard was up a short while later and apparently in a decent condition.
With the win, Ajagba moves to 15-0, (12 KOs) and it looks like he is ready for the next step in the competition, while Howard drops to 15-5 (12 KOs) and will probably need some time to shake off cobwebs before returning afterwards.