Smith Jr. Becomes the First Man to Stop the Legendary Hopkins – Press Release
Joe "The Beast" Smith Jr. became the first fighter to knock out the legend Bernard Hopkins as he knocked Hopkins completely out of the ring with a vicious 4 punch combination in the 8th round. Hopkins was unable to beat the 20 count administered by referee Jack Reiss constituting a knockout win by Smith Jr. (the bout was officially declared a TKO victory). The fight was the main event on HBO Championship Boxing.
Smith Jr., stalked Hopkins from the opening bell putting pressure on Bernard and landed a telling right hand in round 1 that seemed to wobble Hopkins. Joe was relentless throughout the next 2 rounds and outworked Hopkins easily while Hopkins was limited to landing sneaky pop shots here and there.
Bernard was more competitive in the 4th round landing some nice counter punches Read more [...]