The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is braced for a night of hard-hitting action later when WBC and IBF 175lb champion Artur Beterbiev faces WBO title holder Joe Smith Jr. in a unification fight.
Beterbiev is being billed as a massive favorite for the contest. However, DAZN boxing analyst Sergio Mora believes it will be the WBO champion who will be triumphant in New York.
"I’m going with the underdog; I’m going with the blue-collar worker in Joe Smith Jr," Mora predicted on JABS.
"If you look at the resume of Joe Smith Jr., the loss to Dmitry Bivol definitely aged well.
"He’s 32 years old, and he’s going in the right direction on a four-fight winning streak.
"Beterbiev has knocked out everyone they put in front of him, he has cinder blocks for fists, but he’s 37 years old. I think power vs. power, youth wins, I’m going with the underdog, I’m going with the upset, Joe Smith Jr."
On the other hand, Chris Mannix believes Smith Jr. will struggle to cope with Beterbiev's pressure.
"I’m surprised by how heavy a favorite Artur Beterbiev is because in Beterbiev’s last fight, he did get the knockout of Marcus Browne, but he was struggling in those early rounds trying to figure out Browne," Mannix began.
"If Browne could have boxed a little more and stayed away from that pressure, he might have won that fight.vThe reason I can’t pick Joe Smith and the reason I’m picking Artur Beterbiev is because I don’t think Joe Smith is a good enough boxer to stay away from Beterbiev throughout the entirety of the fight. As powerful as Smith has been at times during his career, I don’t think he’s quite powerful enough to hurt or knockout Artur Beterbiev. I think Beterbiev will eventually get to Joe Smith with that relentless pressure."