Joe Smith Jr. did not take the path of least resistance to reach his second shot at a light heavyweight world title. As he prepares to step into the ring on Saturday against Maxim Vlasov at the Osage Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma (10 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+), with the vacant WBO belt on the line, Smith has been through the spectrum of the highs and lows that come with championship-level boxing. After getting knocked out in his seventh professional fight back in 2010, Smith (26-3, 21 KOs) rattled off 15 wins over the next five years in the leadup to two victories that changed his career -- a first-round TKO win over Andrzej Fonfara, followed by a KO of Bernard Hopkins in which Smith knocked Hopkins out of the ring and ended his career with one punch. Smith was an underdog in both of those fights, and he'd continue to carry that tag as the fights got even bigger.