Andrzej Fonfara: I Want Wear Joe Smith Down and Finish Him!
Jun 16, 2016 • 7:42 PM ET
By Jake Donovan
He’s spent all but four bouts in his pro career in his adopted hometown of Chicago, but it always feels like a homecoming whenever Andrzej Fonfara fights in the Windy City.
The consummate gym rat, it’s common for the light heavyweight contender to randomly show up at a facility in another part of the country for the sake of getting in the best possible work. That same approach was taken heading into his upcoming showdown versus Long Island’s Joe Smith Jr. (21-1, 17KOs), which airs live on NBC in primetime from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
It’s where Fonfara will fight for the 16th time in his career all coming in his past 20 fights. His previous trip produced a Fight of the Year contender, when he and Nathan Cleverly shattered Compubox records in their 12-round war last October.
As was the case for that fight as well as the one coming up, the transplanted Polish slugger was a frequent visitor at several gyms throughout the U.S.
“We've had a very long camp and a lot of hard sparring,” Fonfara (28-3, 16KOs) noted during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference. “After training two weeks in Big Bear and three weeks in Houston, the rest of our camp was in Chicago and it was outstanding.
“I'm ready for this opportunity. Joe Smith is a young guy who has come here to beat me. I must show him that I'm a better fighter in the ring. What we say now doesn't matter, we'll see everything on Saturday night.”
Of course, it didn’t stop Fonfara from voicing his opinion on his upcoming opponent – and perhaps for good reason.
The edge in level of competition is massively on the side of Fonfara, which explains why he is a huge betting favorite this weekend. Still, he doesn’t look at his being superior to Smith, but what he can take away from his opponent’s repertoire to bring the fight to that point.
“Each fight is different. I can't give him a lot of space to punch. I want to wear him down and finish him,” Fonfara notes. “I'm taking it round-by-round to get the win.
“I know he has a big punch, because he wins fights by knockout. But who has he knocked out? The guy who was a little bit better, Will Rosinsky, he went the distance. He has heavy, wide punches and we will be ready for him.”
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
