By Luis Sandoval
Boxing is a business and nobody knows that more than former Junior Middleweight champion Ishe Smith whose scheduled fight with Erislandy Lara was cancelled in order for Lara to fight Saul “Canelo”Alvarez this past July instead. That fight is now over and Smith is ready to pick up right where he left off and get his crack at Lara.
“I want to go to the Cuban boxing school that Canelo went to. I got to go buy some different shoes, I’ll tell you that. I got to go get some track shoes and try to catch him but I think we have unfinished business there so I want to finish that off. I allowed him to go [fight Canelo] and now we just have to finish that off so if I have my say in the situation, I would like to fight him next” Smith would inform BoxingScene.
Lara’s gamble to face Canelo didn’t pan out exactly how he wanted it. While he got the opportunity to face one of the biggest names in the sport, he came up short and lost a split decision victory. Many criticized Lara for all the movement he did in the fight against Canelo and Smith is one of them.
“I thought Canelo won. I mean you can’t win a mega fight running like that. We saw that with De La Hoya when he fought Trinidad. I thought De La Hoya won but he kind of left it in the judges’ hands when he ran the last 3-4 rounds. I thought Lara did that the whole fight. I don’t think he showed he wanted it. I don’t think he took the initiative to seize the moment whereas Canelo was trying and pushing the action and trying to make the fight. I just thought he didn’t do enough to win honestly” said the Las Vegas native.
If Lara tries to apply the same tactics against Ishe they are prepared to deal with it. Smith leaves all game planning to his head coach but he also believes he would make the proper adjustments if he gets the fight.
“I would leave [strategy] up to the general Eddie Mustafa. He’ll put the game plan in place if that’s a fight that can be made. If it can’t be made, we move and go get somebody else. But if that fight can be made we just go out there and make adjustments. Make adjustments and do the best we can and seize that moment and opportunity. I would love to be a two time champion and we got a lot of unfinished business at 154 and he’s one of the guys I’m looking at”.
Smith is eager to get back in the ring and start training but he’ll have to wait to see who his next opponent is.
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