NEW YORK CITY - Hard hitting light heavyweight contender JOE SMITH JR., (23-1 19 KO's), held court in front of a tremendous crowd of New York City media on Tuesday afternoon at the Mendez Boxing Gym ahead of his highly anticipated 10-round clash with fellow contender SULLIVAN BARRERA (19-1, 14 KO's) set for Saturday, July 15 at The Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles, California and televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:50 p.m. ET.

JOE SMITH JR.

"It feels great to be fighting on HBO, I'm looking forward to it, I'm in great shape and ready to
put on a tremendous performance against Sullivan Barrera."
 
"It's not like fighting at home but I'm looking forward to fighting at the Forum again, I was treated very well there and it's a tremendous and legendary venue. I like Los Angeles, the fans were very good to me as well."

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Joe Smith

 

"Along with the media, it's great to see some many of my union brothers here at the media workout, I truly appreciate all the support they've shown me."

 

"I saw Sullivan Barrera's fight with Andre Ward and I've seen a few of his other fights. This fight is a huge challenge to me, he's got a lot of experience but I'll be ready on July 15."

Joe Smith
 

"I'll definitely be going back to working for the union in the future when I'm not training for a fight, it's a great job and they've been very supportive of me throughout my career.

 

"Joe DeGuardia has done a great job of getting me these opportunities, particularly with Fonfara and Hopkins and now with Barrera, it's my job to take care of business in the ring."

Joe Smith

 JOE DEGUARDIA, President and CEO of Star Boxing

"We're all very excited for Joe, he's in tremendous shape as you can see. Barrera is another challenge for Joe and he's well prepared to be victorious."

Joe Smith