Sergio Mora believes that Joe Smith Jr. was a worthy winner against Maxim Vlasov, but the fight could have gone either way.
Smith Jr. won by decision, with one of the judges calling the fight a draw, in an impressive and doughty display from the pair that saw the American claim the vacant WBO light heavyweight belt.
Speaking on JABS with Chris Mannix, Sergio Mora said he understood the decision but had some concerns.
“I’m conflicted here, emotionally. I think it was a close fight that could have gone either way,” he explained.
“I totally see Vlasov winning that fight. I had him ahead going into the championship rounds. But with that said we’ve got to congratulate Joe Smith Jr. A blue collar worker, an ordinary, average joe did something extraordinary in the championship rounds, that’s what you‘ve got to do to win the title.
“The only thing I question is that one judge scored it 10-8 in the 11th round when that punch that hit him behind the head was waved off and wasn’t a knockdown, why was that scored 10-8? That just made it impossible for Vlasov to win going into the 12th round.
“Fantastic fight by two high level champions, would love them to fight again, but that score leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
A fight with Artur Beterbiev has been mooted for Smith, and Mora thinks that the difficulty that Vlasov has posed could show a way forward for his next challenger.
“That fight’s going to detonate some time this summer, hopefully, but the reason that Vlasov was able to do this: Vlasov is tricky to hit, he can take a big punch. He’s a cruiserweight coming down to light heavyweight. That’s what we saw.
“Vlasov was landing some sneaky shots with the right hand, they were not as clean as the looping shots Smith Jr. was landing and maybe that’s the reason [he won], those are the sexier shots, and referees like seeing those a little better.
“They were like spears, frustrating and dispiriting Joe Smith Jr. by taking those big punches.
"The body language for Smith Jr. going into the 9th and 10th round... It was an exciting fight."