WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr. could have easily looked past Steve Geffrard on Saturday night, and no one would have blamed him in the slightest bit. But, instead, he went through two different opponents, losing two of them to COVID-19, and took the Geffrard fight on eight days notice. A sluggish performance or a shocking defeat would have cost him unification bouts with Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Instead, Smith surprised people by boxing in the early. But "The Beast of East" lived up to his moniker by being the aggressor and using his power, which resulted in a 16-punch combination to send Geffrard to a knee and forced his corner to wave the fight off at the 0:37 mark of the ninth round at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y. to retain his championship. DAZN News had the fight scored 80-72 for Smith at the time of the stoppage.
Smith (28-3, 22 KOs) controlled the majority of the fight. The 32-year-old began the contest doing the unconventional and was boxing and slugging. Then, when he went to his patented power shots, Geffrard kept a high guard, which worked for the first couple of rounds. But Geffrard didn't take advantage of his strategy and would throw only in short spurts, which played into Smith's hands.
Smith found an opening in Geffrard's armor, the body. The New York native started pounding the body with digging hooks. Once Smith made it a point of emphasis, it left Geffrard vulnerable upstairs, which was the opportunity Smith needed. Smith was relentless upstairs and didn't let up until he sent Geffard to the canvas and the challenger's corner finally called it a day.
Here is what happened at Joe Smith Jr. vs. Steve Geffrard.