By Keith Idec
Joe Smith Jr. didn’t accuse Bernard Hopkins of doing anything shady.
Hopkins’ opponent certainly sent a message, though, by retweeting something regarding Hopkins’ failure to enroll in the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association’s testing program prior to their fight Saturday night. Smith, of Mastic, New York, did participate in VADA’s random testing program throughout his preparation for a 12-round fight against the 51-year-old Hopkins at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Smith retweeted this tweet Friday night by @MonteroOnBoxing (Michael Montero, a writer for various websites and publications): Joe Smith Jr is enrolled in VADA testing, Bernard Hopkins is not. #HopkinsSmith #Alien #FinalOne #boxing #boxeo #MonteroOnBoxing
Both boxers have been subjected, though, to performance-enhancing drug testing by the California State Athletic Commission. Testing by state and tribal regulatory agencies typically is administered with less frequency, though, than testing by VADA and other independent organizations.
The 27-year-old Smith (22-1, 18 KOs) will try to ruin Hopkins’ farewell fight in an HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event.
Smith stopped Polish light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (28-4, 16 KOs, 1 NC) in the first round of his last bout, June 18 in Chicago. The Long Island-based union laborer still is about a 2-1 underdog against an aged legend who hasn’t fought in more than two years, not since former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) thoroughly out-boxed him throughout their November 2014 championship match in Atlantic City.
HBO’s tripleheader is scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET/PT with a cruiserweight championship match. That fight will pit Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (10-0, 9 KOs), the WBO world cruiserweight title-holder, against South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu (17-2, 11 KOs) in a scheduled 12-rounder.
The co-featured fight is a 10-round featherweight bout between Joseph Diaz Jr. (22-0, 13 KOs), a 2012 American Olympian from Downey, California, and Mexico’s Horacio Garcia (30-1-1, 22 KOs).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
