I love watching this clinic. The main thing that always sticks out for me is how BEAUTIFUL Brown's footwork is. And his jab/cross are both picture perfect as well. He really does a number on Smith in this fight.
Probably the best performance of Smith that's available on film. EDIT: Oops, I meant to say best performance of Brown, not Smith.
The decline in Brown is clearly noticeable by time he lost to Ortiz. Not to diminish Carlos' masterclass.
It is always good to watch Joe Brown but I'm curious about Smith. I don't know where he was in his career, or if he had a hard time with the weight, but he walked out of the corner in the first round with dead legs, no reflexes and nothing on his punches.
I wouldn't rule out that he was shopworn at this time. As it turned out, this fight would be the 5th in an 11-fight losing streak that closed out his career. He'd been in a number of tough battles before this, and Brown reportedly punished him down the stretch of their 2nd fight that went the full 15. For comparison, this is footage of an earlier fight with Smith where he successfully defends his title:
I completely disagree on Smith. He might’ve been one of the worst Lightweight champions of all time. Arguably the worst prior to the past 30+ years of alphabet titles. I’m sure there’s been one or two just as bad during that period.
