Did "The Contender" ruin Ishe Smiths career?

[Animal Squabbs]

I remember before "The Contender", he was slowly on his way to the top. There was talk of him being the first fighter born in Las Vegas to become a champ, they did news paper articles here in Vegas. Fernando Vargas had him as a sparring partner to get him ready for De La Hoya and he gloated over Ishe saying that he was tough and really brought it and had alot of talent. Ishe was undefeated and had two quality wins over David Estrada and Randall Bailey, there was talk of him fighting Shane Mosley.

Then out of nowhere he winds up on the contender. He came off as unlikeable on the show and had several arguments, He eventually ended up losing to Mora and since then he really hasnt had ANY attention. He went from being a very promising prospect that was being brought along to a possible title shot, to "one of the guys from contender" even though he is probably more recognizable to casual fans, he now has a loss and really doesnt seem like he'll ever go anywhere. I havent heard anything about him until now that he might be fighting Sechew Powell and I think he ends up losing that one.
If he didnt go on contender he might have atleast got one big name fight for a title.

[Southpaw16]

Ishe Smith still has a lot of potential. The problem was his career lost some momentum in the year or so after the Contender, because he had a long drawn out legal battle with the Contender people. Basically in that contract he was not going to be able to press forward and get big fights.

That whole ordeal is over for Smith, and he is now signed up with Golden Boy Promotions, and ready to advance in his career.

I definately got the idea that Smith was unfairly portrayed as a villian in The Contender. Ishe Smith has a a website where he regularly interracts with his fans on the message board, and I have sent him emails and have gotten direct replies from him on both occasions. Also he allowed Ahmed Kaddour to use the message board on his website to say his side of the story in a dispute he was having with Gary Shaw, despite their past differences, so as far as I'm concerned he seems like a terrific guy, and I will definately be watching his future fights.

[-Antonio-]

It hurt his career no doubt. He lost to a guy he probably would have beaten if it went 10 or 12 rounds, and he has barely fought since.

[Hitman932]

yeah the show made him look bad on a personal level.... even though he seemed like a pretty nice guy to me

[Easy-E]

Ishe Smith is ruining Ishe Smith's career.

[deuce_drop]

Ishe Smith is ruining Ishe Smith's career.

yep.....................

he acted like a ***** on the show and from what i've seen here locally in vegas he doesn't get much props from a lot of peeps here.

i've seen him snub people before and i've seen him get snubbed so it must be a mutual thing to not interact with ishe, he's more than likely not an outgoing kind of guy.

[ferocity]

I don't think its about him acting this way or that way, an ******* or *****. Fact is he hasn't fought enough to keep his name in the papers, magazines and websites. I've seen his last two fights, the guy can fight and he makes entertaining fights. All he needs to do is find his weight and keep active.