The Hauser Report: Beterbiev-Smith and More

Boxing is never easy. But Artur Beterbiev (now 18-0 with 18 knockouts) made it look that way when he stopped Joe Smith (28-3, 22 KOs, 2 KOs by) in a 175-pound title-unification bout at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Beterebiev age 37, was born in Russia and has lived in Montreal for more than a decade. All but one of his fights have been in Canada or the United States. He won the vacant IBF 175-pound title by knocking out the unheralded Enrico Koelling in 2017 and added the WBC belt to his collection by stopping Oleksandr Gvozdyk two years later. His other title defenses have been against Callum Johnson, Radivoje Kalajdzic, Adam Deines, and Marcus Browne. He’s a dangerous fighter.

Smith, age 32, had been widely regarded as a high-level club fighter. Then, on December 17, 2016, he knocked out 51-year-old Bernard Hopkins in the final fight (and sole KO by) of The Executioner’s illustrious ring career. That raised Joe’s profile. But he lost two of his next three bouts (against Sullivan Barrera and Dmitry Bivol). Victories over Jesse Hart and Eleider Alvarez began the rebuilding process. On April 10, 2021, Smith won a majority decision over Maxin Vlasov to claim the WBO 175-pound belt. A January 15, 2022, stoppage of Steve Geffrard followed.

Beterbiev was a 7-to-1 betting favorite. Smith is at his best in the trenches but that’s where Artur shines brightest. The conventional wisdom was that Joe would give it everything he had but that what he had wouldn’t be good enough. His strengths as a fighter played into Beterbiev’s. And everything that Joe can do in a boxing ring, Artur does better.

It was hard to find an impartial observer who wasn’t picking Beterbiev to win by knockout. The prevailing view was that Smith wouldn’t be intimidated but that he would be ground down and beaten up. Artur is a champion and top-level fighter. Smith was a belt-holder who wanted to become a champion. There’s a difference.

There were no surprises on fight night. Fighters in the red corner won seven out of seven undercard bouts. There was no surprise in the main event either.

Smith came out aggressively at the opening bell, determined to live or die with what he does best. Beterbiev responded in kind. He knocked Joe down toward the end of round one and twice more in the next stanza with a barrage of punches that were like ocean waves crashing against the shore. Words like “obliterate” and “demolish” come to mind. He thoroughly outboxed Joe in addition to outpunching him. Referee Harvey Dock appropriately stopped the bout with Smith on wobbly legs at 2:19 of the second round.

The most intriguing next fight for Beterbiev would be a unification bout against WBA 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol for the “undisputed” light-heavyweight crown. When asked in a post-fight interview whether he preferred Bivol or WBO “mandatory” challenger Anthony Yarde as his next opponent, Artur responded, “Unification fights is more interesting, is more motivation. I prefer unify.”

But this is boxing. So, in his next bout, Beterbiev will likely face Yarde (who was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev and split two fights against Lyndon Arthur).

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Beterbiev-Smith was contested seven days after a particularly disturbing incident that occurred on another Top Rank fight card at the Hulu Theater.

I’ve written at length about the inadequacies of the New York State Athletic Commission. https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/71634-an-open-letter-to-gov-kathy-hochul-regarding-the-new-york-state-athletic-commission On June 11, these inadequacies were exposed again.

Dakota Linger had been brought to New York from West Virginia as an opponent for heavily favored Josue Vargas. Forty seconds into round two, Linger rocked Vargas with a hard right hand. Josue staggered backward and fell to the canvas. Inexplicably, referee Ron Lipton ruled the knockdown a slip.

ESPN blow-by-blow commentator Bernard Osuna responded to Lipton’s ruling with the declaration, “It’s called a slip. Unbelievable! That was a right hand that hurt Vargas.”

The action resumed. Linger threw three dozen unanswered punches, many of them blows to the head, that culminated in Vargas being blasted through the ropes. Rather than stop the fight, Lipton gave the obviously woozy Vargas a count and, when the fighter regained his feet, allowed the carnage to continue.

“Vargas is not all right,” Osuna told a national television audience with urgency in his voice. “He’s finished.”

Twelve more unanswered punches followed with ESPN expert analyst Timothy Bradley shouting, “Omigod! Stop the fight! Stop the fight! Stop the fight! Stop the fight!”

Finally, several ringside personnel climbed onto the ring apron and ended the slaughter. As of this writing, the atrocity can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3X8sK5p9es.

How bad was it? The Mirror (one of the United Kingdom’s more popular news outlets) ran an article headlined “Boxing Referee Accused of Trying to Get Fighter Killed by Not Stopping Fight.” That was hyperbolic. But undisputed world lightweight champion Devin Haney wasn’t when he posted on social media, “This type of stuff will ruin a fighter forever.”

It can also leave a fighter with permanent brain damage.

After the bout, Vargas was hospitalized for observation.

“It doesn’t matter who the house fighter is,” Timothy Bradley told this writer one week after the carnage. “it doesn’t matter what the fans want to see. The referee has to stop that fight and he didn’t.”

The New York State Athletic Commission fails consistently to take corrective measures when confronted with poor refereeing and judging. Meanwhile, not a single NYSAC commissioner or executive director Kim Sumbler attended the June 18 fight card at Madison Square Garden.

Is this New York governor Kathy Hochul’s idea of good government?

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Ring judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo has turned in some horrible scorecards; most notably her 117-110 tally in favor of Gabriel Maestre in a WBA title fight against Mykal Fox last August. But her conduct away from the ring has been worse.

Martinez has a history of making racist comments on social media. By way of example, in a July 11, 2020, post on Twitter mocking Black Lives Matter, she wrote, “Black Goya beans matter.” In an August 18, 2020, Twitter post, she referred to Michele Obama as “monkey face.”

On June 11, Daniel Dubois knocked out Trevor Bryan in the fourth round of a WBA heavyweight “world” title fight at Casino Miami Jai Alai in Florida. One of the judges assigned to the bout was Gloria Martinez Rizzo.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis oversees the Florida State Athletic Commission.  Perhaps he finds Rizzo’s conduct and remarks acceptable. They aren’t.

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – Broken Dreams: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, he was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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