Joe Smith Jr. scored a big victory over Eleider Alvarez this past weekend (Photo: Mikey Williams – Top Rank)

By Chris Robinson

Joe “The Beast” Smith Jr. once again delivered an emphatic victory this past weekend in knocking out former champion Eleider Alvarez in the ninth round on Saturday night.

Smith (26-3, 21 KO’s) and Alvarez (25-2 13 KO’s) were fighting in a WBO light heavyweight world title eliminator.

In the ninth, Smith jarred Alvarez (25-2, 13 KO’s), with right hand, and moments later a left hand put him down and through the ropes, with no count being issued as the fight was waved off. Smith was leading on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage (80-72 and 79-73 twice).

“Coming into this camp, I knew I had to work on my boxing,” Smith said afterwards. “I wanted to be sharp, throw a lot of straight punches. I watched his fight with [Sergey] Kovalev, and Kovalev kind of set the way to beat him. So we watched that and worked off of it. I knew coming in today I had to box a little more because he’s got that great right hand. He caught me with it a couple times, but I can take a punch, too.”

Smith now moves forward with his career and should be in line for a big fight.

“Every time he hit me, I wanted to come and stop him in his tracks, and I did that,” said Smith. “I stuck to my game plan, and it was a great fight. I feel this one is a big one. I really needed it. I wanted to prove I’m not just a knockout guy. I proved my boxing ability, too, and I showed that tonight.”

Chris Robinson can be reached at CRobinson@hustleboss.com