By Steve Kim

There has been some talk of a Long Island-area showdown between Joe Smith Jr. (23-1, 19KOs) and Seanie Monaghan (28-0, 17KOs) in the wake of Smith's big knockout victory over Bernard Hopkins this past weekend at the Forum in Inglewood, California, that was televised on HBO.

The two fighters know each other quite well. Smith defeated Monaghan in the final round of the Golden Gloves in April of 2008 [178-pound Novice].

Monaghan is highly ranked by sanctioning bodies with a crowd pleasing style. Smith has made a real name for himself in 2016. First with a very unexpected upset in June, by pulling off a first round knockout of Andrzej Fonfara in a contest that many felt would be a mismatch. And then last Saturday's win will not be forgotten for a long time, with Smith closing the show by unleashing a combination that sent Hopkins flying through the ropes and to the floor in the eight.

Bob Arum, who promotes Monaghan, would be interested in such a pairing.

"Absolutely, absolutely, no question about it. Seanie has a great following and Joe Smith has a great union following and the fight did very well on HBO with Hopkins so a relatively large number of people know him. Of course, that fight would do tremendous business,'' said Arum to BoxingScene.com.

Arum still has to reach out to the head of Star Boxing, Joe Deguardia, to get the ball rolling on this fight which seems to make sense for the Nassau Coliseum.

"I've been working on other things but Joe's a real good friend, I have great respect for him and I think we'll probably be talking about it," said Arum.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com