Joe Smith Jr. Assures Hopkins’ Head Games Won’t Work

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Joe Smith Jr. sat directly across from Bernard Hopkins last week, surrounded by a table full of reporters in a Manhattan meeting room.

As Hopkins spoke, sometimes for several minutes without interruption, Smith seemed almost astounded at the loquacious legend’s ability to continue talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. And talking.

The light heavyweight from Long Island later joked that he “wanted to take a nap” when Hopkins went off on several meandering diatribes.

Make no mistake, though, Smith was listening intently to what Hopkins was saying. The hard-hitting 175-pound contender also assured anyone thinking the Hall-of-Fame bound Hopkins can get into his head – as he has done to other opponents – that it just isn’t possible.

Yes, Hopkins has a lot more experience in and out of the ring than Smith, who’s 24 years younger than him. But he is fully focused on ruining the former undisputed middleweight and light heavyweight champion’s going-away party Saturday night in Inglewood, California.

“I don’t have a reaction,” Smith said regarding Hopkins’ attempts at psychological warfare before their fight. “I’m prepared for everything, as always. I’ve been doing it for a while. I don’t let anything anyone says get to me. I know what I’ve gotta do when I get in the ring, and I’m just gonna go do what I need to do to win the fight. I don’t need to sit here and talk about it, and say what I’m gonna do, and what I’m hoping for. I’m just gonna go and do it, and that’s it.”

The 51-year-old Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs, 2 NC), a Philadelphia native who resides in Hockessin, Delaware, and the 27-year-old Smith (22-1, 18 KOs) will meet in a 12-round HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event at The Forum just outside of Los Angeles.

Their fight will headline HBO’s tripleheader Saturday night, scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The telecast also will include a 12-rounder that will match WBO world cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk (10-0, 9 KOs), of Kiev, Ukraine, against South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu (17-2, 11 KOs). A 10-rounder that’ll send featherweight contender Joseph Diaz Jr. (22-0, 13 KOs), a 2012 American Olympian from Downey, California, against Mexico’s Horacio Garcia (30-1-1, 22 KOs) will be part of the broadcast as well.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.