By Keith Idec
The social media criticism directed toward Joe Smith Jr. was harsh to say the least before his fight against Andrzej Fonfara.
Smith was unknown nationally before their main event, which was broadcast by NBC in primetime. Poland’s Fonfara, fighting in his adopted hometown of Chicago, was established as one of boxing’s top light heavyweights.
In his previous two fights, Fonfara had stopped Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) in the ninth round and beaten former WBO and current WBA world light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (30-3, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision. He also had dropped WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in a fight Fonfara lost by unanimous decision two years before boxing Smith.
Those factors contributed to oddsmakers installing Smith, of Mastic, New York, as a 15-1 underdog before their 10-round fight at UIC Pavilion.
It took Smith all of two minutes June 18 to completely change the boxing world’s opinion of him. Just a few seconds after Fonfara appeared to wobble him with a left hook, Smith floored Fonfara with a picture-perfect right hand, with just over a minute left in the first round.
Fonfara reached his feet, yet remained hurt. Smith swarmed him and dropped Fonfara again with a left-right combination that left a disoriented Fonfara under the turnbuckle padding in Fonfara’s corner.
Fonfara got up again, but referee Hector Afu determined he was too hurt to continue. The nationally televised fight was stopped 2:32 into it and Smith had made his mark in boxing.
Smith’s stunning first-round stoppage of Fonfara is BoxingScene.com’s “Upset of the Year” for 2016.
It made Smith (23-1, 19 KOs), a union laborer when he’s not preparing for fights, an option for legend Bernard Hopkins (55-8-2, 32 KOs, 2 NC), who sought an opponent for his farewell fight December 17 in Inglewood, California. Smith more than took advantage of that opportunity, too, by knocking Hopkins out of the ring, winning by eighth-round knockout and ruining the 51-year-old Hopkins’ retirement party in an HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event from The Forum.
The 27-year-old Smith was more than a 2-1 underdog against Hopkins as well, but it was the Fonfara fight that changed the course of his career.
“When we fought Fonfara, everybody said we were crazy taking that fight,” said Joe DeGuardia, Smith’s promoter. “They said, ‘How are you fighting Fonfara?’ Some reporters, [ESPN’s Dan] Rafael wrote it was a disgrace. ‘[Smith] doesn’t belong in the ring with him,’ and stuff like that. Now, when he goes and did what he did in that fight – I expected him to win, but not in the first round or anything like that – but I hadn’t jumped and been emotional like that after a fight in years. Maybe not even since when I was fighting. But it was exhilarating because of the kind of guy he is, because of the circumstances of the fight, the fact that we were such big underdogs. But it was rewarding and I was proud of it.”
RUNNERS-UP FOR BOXINGSCENE.COM UPSET OF THE YEAR
JEZREEL CORRALES-TAKASHI UCHIYAMA: Japan’s Uchiyama had owned the WBC super featherweight title for six years, had defended it 12 times and was widely considered one of top boxers, pound-for-pound, in the world when Corrales came to Tokyo to challenge him April 27.
The unbeaten Uchiyama (24-1-1, 20 KOs) was a 6-1 favorite, but Panama’s Corrales (20-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC) dropped him three times in the second round to win by knockout and stun the crowd at Ota-City General Gymnasium.
Corrales’ straight left hand floored Uchiyama the first time. Uchiyama, 37, got up, only to have the left-handed Corrales floor him again with a left-right combination shortly thereafter.
A staggered Uchiyama made it to his feet again, but referee Robert Hoyle stopped the fight after another Corrales left knocked down Uchiyama a third time just before the end of the second round.
A Corrales-Uchiyama rematch is scheduled for Saturday at the same venue in Tokyo.
ANDREW HERNANDEZ-ARIF MAGOMEDOV: Hernandez was 3-4 in his previous seven bouts, including two TKO losses, when he entered the ring May 21 to meet Magomedov in Las Vegas.
That didn’t stop the middleweight from Phoenix from out-boxing Russia’s Magomedov (18-1, 11 KOs), then an unbeaten 160-pound prospect, on his way to winning by large margins on all three scorecards. Hernandez (16-5-1, 7 KOs, 1 NC) won a unanimous decision in their 10-round bout at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center (100-89, 100-89, 98-91).
JOHN MOLINA JR.-RUSLAN PROVODNIKOV: This fight was supposed to be a showcase for Provodnikov, who had just signed an exclusive multi-fight deal with Showtime.
Molina, despite his valiant performance in an 11th-round knockout loss to Lucas Matthysse two years earlier, had the perfect style to help the rugged Russian make a fantastic fight for viewers. Instead, a disciplined, patient Molina (29-7, 23 KOs) showed some diversity, out-boxed Provodnikov (25-5, 18 KOs) and won a 12-round unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 115-113) on June 11 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Molina, of Covina, California, went 1-3 in the four fights before he opposed Provodnikov. He also was a 10-1 underdog.
DAVID PERALTA-ROBERT GUERRERO: Argentina’s Peralta was supposed to represent a tune-up fight for Guerrero, a former four-division champion who was trying to bounce back from a unanimous-decision defeat to Danny Garcia in a WBC world welterweight title fight seven months earlier.
Peralta (26-3-1, 14 KOs), a 30-1 underdog, was driving a cab in Argentina to make ends meet and had lost to two obscure opponents in Buenos Aires before making his U.S. debut against Guerrero on August 27. He fought through a cut sustained in the fifth round and beat Guerrero (33-5-1, 18 KOs, 2 NC), of Gilroy, California, by split decision in their 12-rounder at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
JULIUS INDONGO-ED TROYANOVSKY: Indongo wasn’t well-established against championship-caliber opposition when the rangy southpaw traveled to Moscow to challenge Russia’s Troyanovsky for the IBF world super lightweight championship December 3.
Troyanovsky (25-1, 22 KOs), who was making the first defense of the IBF 140-pound championship against a 10-1 underdog, had won 15 straight bouts by knockout. He never even got a chance to warm up, though.
Namibia’s Indongo (21-0, 11 KOs) knocked Troyanovsky silly with a left hand from long distance just 40 seconds into their scheduled 12-round title fight at Khodynka Ice Palace. Referee Mark Calo-Oy stopped the bout immediately, with an unresponsive Troyanovsky flat on his back.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
