Joe Smith Jr. defeated Steve Geffrard on Saturday night in a successful defence of his WBO light heavyweight belt, with the victor describing his opponent as ‘a great boxer’.
Geffrard stepped in as a late replacement for Callum Johnson to make sure the event in Verona, New York could go ahead.
Geffrard was stopped early in the ninth round as the champion knocked his rival down, and Kevin Cunningham - Gerrard’s trainer - requested a stoppage.
The win represents Smith’s first defence of his belt since beating Maxim Vlasov in 2021, and the 32-year-old was keen to praise Geffrard for taking the fight, as well as his obdurate performance.
“He really brought it today,” Smith said after the fight. “It was a great fight. As you can see, he’s a great boxer, a good survivor. I was trying to get him out of there early, but I realised he was very tough and I wasn’t gonna be able to do that.
“I tried to wait until the later rounds and started throwing more combinations to pick him apart.”