By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Joe Smith Jr.’s dream was about to come true.
The light heavyweight contender from Long Island wasn’t just going to get a world title shot. The hard-hitting Smith was going to challenge WBC champion Adonis Stevenson on April 29 at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, about a 40-mile drive from Smith’s home in Mastic.
The scenario was perfect – too perfect as it turned out.
Negotiations between Joe DeGuardia, Smith’s promoter, and Yvon Michel, Stevenson’s promoter, broke down and Smith’s dream fight fell apart. Stevenson instead fought Poland’s Andrzej Fonfara (29-5, 17 KOs, 1 NC), someone Smith had stopped in the first round last year, in a rematch of their May 2014 fight in Montreal.
Stevenson stopped Fonfara in the second round of their rematch, which wasn’t remotely competitive June 3 in Montreal. Smith eventually landed a difficult fight against Cuban contender Sullivan Barrera, which is scheduled for July 15 at The Forum in Inglewood, California (HBO).
“I have no idea why it fell apart,” Smith told BoxingScene.com during an open workout recently at Mendez Boxing Gym in Manhattan. “I was told it was gonna happen, but I never heard anything other than that. I just feel like he didn’t wanna fight me.”
The 27-year-old Smith (23-1, 19 KOs) hopes beating Barrera (19-1, 14 KOs) moves him closer to a title shot, but he’s not sure it’ll come against Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs). The 39-year-old champion from Quebec has said that he wants to face Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) in what would be a full title unification bout, but Stevenson also has a mandatory defense due against Montreal-based Colombian contender Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs).
“I don’t know if he’ll eventually fight me, unless someone makes him,” said Smith, the WBC’s No. 3-ranked contender to Stevenson. “But we’ll see what happens.”
Smith admits it was tough to find out that he wouldn’t get that title shot against Stevenson, but says that he has moved past it.
“It was disappointing, but I got the opportunity to fight Barrera and I’m just focused on that right now,” Smith said. “I’m not worrying about anything that could’ve or should’ve happened. Eventually, I’ll get the title shot and that’s all that matters.”
The Smith-Barrera bout will be part of an HBO “Boxing After Dark” tripleheader July 15.
The main event will match Mexico’s Miguel Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) against Japan’s Takashi Miura (31-3-2, 24 KOs) in a 12-round fight for Berchelt’s WBC world super featherweight title. The third televised fight will pit Panamanian southpaw Jezreel Corrales (21-1, 8 KOs, 1 NC), the WBA world super featherweight champion, against Mexico’s Robinson Castellanos (24-12, 14 KOs) in a 12-rounder.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.