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Dmitry Bivol will put his WBA world light heavyweight title on the line Saturday night when he takes on Joe Smith Jr inside the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.
In the United States, the card is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET. It won’t be televised on regular cable TV in the US, but you can watch a live stream of the all undercard and main card fights, including Bivol vs Smith Jr., on DAZN.
You can start a free one-month trial of DAZN right here, and you can then watch Bivol vs Smith Jr and all the other fights live on your computer via DAZN.com, or on your phone, tablet, smart TV, Roku, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the DAZN app.
Bivol vs Smith Jr. Preview
A highly accomplished amateur, the 28-year-old Bivol has continued that success into the professional ranks. Since becoming a pro in 2014, he has won all 15 of his fights, with 11 coming via KO. He became an interim world champ just seven fights into his career, was eventually promoted to full-time champ and has already defended his belt four times.
Bivol’s last two fights both went the distance, but that doesn’t mean they were particularly close. He thoroughly dominated Isaac Chilemba in September, winning by shutout scores of 120-108 on two of three cards, and it was more of the same against Jean Pascal in November, as he cruised to a 119-109, 117-111, 119-109 rout.
Bivol is quickly rising as one of the most dominant individuals in the sport. He ranks third in BoxRec’s light heavyweight rankings (behind WBC champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk and WBO champ Sergey Kovalev) and 21st in the pound-for-pound rankings.
As such, Smith–who is 24-2-0 but lost to Sullivan Barrera in his only other fight against competition that closely resembles Bivol’s ability–enters as a big underdog. Still, he’s ready for his first shot at a world title.
“This fight means everything to me. This is everything I’ve worked for my entire career and I’m just really looking forward to it,” said the 29-year-old. “I want to show everybody that I’m going to be the new champion. If I didn’t have a chance to fight for a world title or a chance to win one I wouldn’t even be here today still fighting. But I know that I have a chance to win this fight and I feel I am going to win this fight and that’s why I am here. It just means everything to me.”
Smith may be a significant underdog, but there are some reasons for optimism.
First, while he lost to Barrera via unanimous decision back in 2017, he proved he can compete when he knocked Barrera down in the first round. Second, the Long Island native should get a sizable boost from the New York crowd. And lastly, the power. While he has nowhere near the technical skills of Bivol, Smith is a powerful bruiser who can turn the fight in an instant with just one punch.
Will all that be enough? It’ll still be an uphill battle, as Bivol can pick opponents apart with the best of them, but it should still be entertaining to watch.
In the night’s co-main event, Maurice Hooker (25-0-3, 17 KO’s) will defend his WBO world super lightweight title against Mikkel LesPierre (21-0-1, 10 KO’s). It’s Hooker’s second title defense since winning the belt last June against Terry Flanagan, while it easily marks LesPierre’s biggest fight of his career.