Dmitry Bivol successfully defended his title dominating Joe Smith Jr. Three official judges turned in scores of 118-110, and two scores of 119-109 in favor of Bivol. BLH scored the fight 119-109 for Bivol as well. From the opening rounds Bivol was just too much for the slugger Smith. Bivol use his jabs to pick off Smith as he was coming forward. Bivol also used feints to turn those jabs into left hooks which also landed all night for him. By the middle-to-late rounds Smith was clearly frustrated with his inability to do anything to Bivol. In the ninth round Smith would literally pick Bivol up during a clinch and slam him to the canvas. The referee would give Smith a hard warning for the wrestling move but Bivol never looked to retaliate. In the next round Bivol would be back in control, using his boxing technique to school Smith. Bivol wins with ease.