WBO World Light Heavyweight Champion Joe Smith Jr. (28-3, 22 KOs) scored a ninth-round stoppage victory over a late substitute Steve Jeffrard (18-3, 12 KOs) in the main event of the evening at the Turning Stone Resort casino in Verona, New York.
Smith had trouble getting past Jeffrard's high defense early on, but he was much more active than his opponent. Smith started throwing right-handed punches in the third round, and drove Jeffrard into a dead-end defense in the fourth. Smith shocked Jeffrard in the fifth round and he went into survival mode after that. Smith sent Jeffrard to the floor in the ninth round and the fight was stopped at 0:37.
"He did really well today," Smith said after the fight. - It was a great fight. As you can see, he is an excellent boxer, he knows how to survive. I tried to pull it out early, but I realized that it is very strong and I won't be able to do it. I tried to wait until the later rounds and started throwing more combinations to take it apart.”
