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PBC on NBC results: Joe Smith Jr shocks Andrzej Fonfara with first round TKO

Joe Smith Jr pulled off the major upset tonight, stopping Andrzej Fonfara in the opening round on NBC.

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Scott Christ is the managing editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2006.

Joe Smith Jr was unproven and all but unknown coming into tonight’s fight with Andrzej Fonfara. He was a massive underdog. He was expected to lose. The biggest hope, really, was that he’d come to fight and make Fonfara "work for it."

Instead, Smith (22-1, 18 KO) drilled Fonfara (28-4, 16 KO) with a big right hand that put the Polish Chicago favorite on the canvas and in a bad way, and finished Fonfara off shortly after with a strong flurry of punches, putting Fonfara down again, with the referee rightly stopping the fight.

It was a real shocker, a contender for Upset of the Year, as the Long Island native was picked by nobody, and this fight was even, to be completely honest, all but ignored even as a main event on NBC.

"I expected to go 10 rounds. Andrzej, he’s a great fighter, but I worked real hard, trained harder than I ever have in my life," Smith said after the shocker. "Each fight I’m working harder and harder. I came here today to prove a point, that I belong here with the best. I proved that tonight. He’s fought the best fighters in the world and no one’s dominated him the way I have."

Joe Smith Jr has arrived, and he’s a factor in the light heavyweight division now. As for Andrzej Fonfara, this is a real stunner, obviously, but at 28 he’s not necessarily finished as a contender.

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