Smith Confident of Beating Lubin: 'Coach Can't Fight For Him'

By Lem Satterfield

Ishe Smith abhors the term "gatekeeper" in the wake of back-to-back losses at 154-pounds.

Since falling by unanimous and split-decision to once-beaten title challenger Julian Williams and twice-beaten Tony Harrison in November 2017 and May, the versatile Smith has seen Harrison dethrone Jermell Charlo as WBC champ on December 22, and Williams (26-1-1, 16 KOs) position himself for a shot at IBF/WBA titleholder Jarrett Hurd in 2019.

"I look at a ‘gatekeeper’ as a guy you don’t think can win but who can give guys problems," said Smith, who never has been knocked out in losses to fighters who either became world champions or challenged for titles.

"'Gatekeeper' doesn't apply to me, because if you look at the fight with Julian Williams, I hurt him several times, I finished strong, and a lot of people think I won that fight. But the judges' scores were were just way off balance. That’s not a 'gatekeeper.’"

Smith (28-10, 12 KOs) gets another crack an up-and-coming fighter on February 9 in 23-year-old southpaw Erickson Lubin (19-1, 14 KOs), whom he'll face on the undercard of a 130-pound clash between three-division champion Abner Mares (31-3-1, 15 KOs) and left-handed WBA "super" champion Gervonta Davis (20-0, 19 KOs) live on Showtime at The StubHub in Carson, California.

“The [Ishe Smith] that fought Williams was a little bit better than the guy that fought Harrison, but Harrison had a little bit to do with that because he fought better than I expected. When I fought Harrison, there were a lot of camp things that I wasn’t happy with,” said Smith, who turned 40 in July.

“I wasn’t’ mentally into the Harrison fight until about two weeks before. Yet I don’t think I was mentally right in that fight, which is something I blame myself for. But this time, I don’t have those issues going on entering this fight. So if I’m the guy that fought Williams for this fight with Lubin -- minus the distractions going into camp before Harrison -- then  of course this won’t even be close."

Smith is returning to his roots in the StubHub Center, a venue whose name was changed from Home Depot Center in 2013.  It was in June 2003 that the then-Home Depot Center’s initial boxing event featured Smith’s second-round stoppage of Sal Lopez along with the late two-division champion Diego Corrales’ third-round knockout of Damien Fuller.

“That was the very first boxing event at the Home Depot Center,” said Smith, who improved to 12-0 with seven KOs in victory over Lopez. “So it will be almost 16 years since I opened that place with Diego Corrales, and to be returning back is going to be crazy.”

Smith has also reunited with trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, who was in “Sugars Shay’s” corner for his IBF 154-pound title-winning unanimous decision that dethroned Cornelius Bundrage in February 2013 in Bundrage’s native Detroit.

Smith became the first Las Vegas-born champion by defeating Bundrage before losing the title in his very next fight to Carlos Molina (September 2013) by split decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“I have always respected Eddie Mustafa, who was with me in Detroit when I won the title by beating Cornelius Bundrage and got a fair shake with the judges, so we’ve gotten back together to finish this last chapter of an amazing career,” said Smith, whose loss to Molina joins Williams, Harrison and a majority decision to former 154-pound title challenger Vanes Martirosyan (September 2015) among his four losses in 20 career fights in his home city.

“Maybe I don’t need to fight [in Las Vegas] as much any more, so I’m happy that this fight is in Los Angeles. Eddie was with me when I beat [previously unbeaten] Pawel Wolak when people didn’t think I would, and our last fight together before this one was [a unanimous decision loss] against [Cuban southpaw and then-champion] Erislandy Lara [December 2014]. So Eddie wasn’t with me with Williams or Harrison, but I truly feel that it’s only fitting that we get together to finish things off the right way.”

Smith’s also lost split- and unanimous decisions to past and current champions Sergio Mora (September 2004) and Daniel Jacobs (August 2009), as well as split- and unanimous decision to title challengers Joel Julio (April 2008) and southpaw Fernando Guerrero (July 2010).

“My fight was a back-and-forth with Vanes Martirosyan, one of the best junior middleweights in the world,” said Smith, whose second straight victory after falling to Martirosyan was a one-knockdown majority decision over Frank Galarza (September 2016) in Las Vegas before fighting Williams.

“I’ve seen it all. Erickson has nothing I haven’t seen before. He’s a southpaw, and I’ve fought plenty of those. When [southpaw champion] Pernell Whitaker fought Felix Trinidad, I was his sparring partner. Many of my losses were controversial. I’ve passed a lot of tests, but Lubin got knocked out in his last fight in his only big one.”

That was in October 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Lubin was dropped once during a first-round stoppage loss to then-154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. In that bout, Lubin crashed to the canvas on his left leg from a head-lurching right uppercut, toppling over his right side, his left arm and leg flailing as the referee ended it.

“If I’m as focused as I was against Williams, I will definitely beat Lubin. He hasn’t succeeded in the type of situation like when I fought Randall Bailey in my 14th fight. That was a tough situation to put a kid into, but I graduated that night,” said Smith, referring to his improving to 14-0 with seven knockouts following a unanimous decision in January 2004 over Randall Bailey, a future world champion whom he floored in the second round.

“But with Lubin, the first time he really, really stepped up, he suffered a setback. You can say that he got caught, but he’s still never been a situation where you’re looking across the ring at another man knowing you have to dig deep because ‘This man ain’t going no where,’ whether it’s 10 or 12 rounds. When you’re in that situation you’re either gonna sink or you’re gonna swim as a fighter. I’m always able to continue swimming in the deep waters, win lose or draw.”

Lubin has since rebounded with April’s fourth-round TKO of Silverio Ortiz, and will end a 10-month ring absence under new trainer Kevin Cunningham.

“Lubin has a great coach [Cunningham] who I respect a great deal, but the coach can’t fight for him. We don’t know if he can swim yet because he hasn’t been put into that type of situation,” said Smith.

“But that’s my job as a fighter, to go out there and to keep putting these guys into difficult situations. I know if I show up right, I don’t think Lubin is going to be able to handle those type of situations.”