Adonis Stevenson vs. Joe Smith Jr. on April 29? In negotiations...

[Scipio2009]

my one hesitation...

is that, were Joe Smith Jr to knock off Adonis Stevenson, the build to Ward-SmithJr may bring to light some of the real racial ugliness that's been simply hinted at

[big_james10]

Smith has earned himself a large payday and that is what Stevenson represents. Smith can always fight a "light touch" for small change in a comeback fight if he loses to Stevenson. Other than Andre Ward (and Ward isn't fighting him), Stevenson is the biggest payday out there for Smith.

[bigjavi973]

Smith by ko chickenson has a glass jaw

[Eff Pandas]

Joe Smith Jr is definitely a talent, but he wouldn't be on the cusp of the opportunity that he's likely to get, were it not for Star Boxing taking the bath on all of the shows they put under him on his build up. just my opinion, anyway

Maybe he wouldn't, maybe he would. Who knows what might have transpired for him without Star.

And idk about what you're speaking on with taking a bath making it okay to fleece guys at a future date. We are just going to be agreeing to disagree with this one, but I respect your opinion as always.

is that, were Joe Smith Jr to knock off Adonis Stevenson, the build to Ward-SmithJr may bring to light some of the real racial ugliness that's been simply hinted at

Whatcha you mean like Irish on Irish violence?

[Scipio2009]

Maybe he wouldn't, maybe he would. Who knows what might have transpired for him without Star.

And idk about what you're speaking on with taking a bath making it okay to fleece guys at a future date. We are just going to be agreeing to disagree with this one, but I respect your opinion as always.



Whatcha you mean like Irish on Irish violence?

No, like "Make America Great Again" nonsense; Joe Smith Jr is a hard-scrabble, Long Island-born man (Peter King, the US Congressman for the region, is a conservative guy who isn't ugly about it), so I don't see any venom coming from him. Still, with the country being what it is, folks are going to see "black guy" vs "white guy", the boxing folks with the inherent bias against Andre Ward will push their stories into the ether, and the reactionary folks in the media space will pick that up and likely turn it into something ugly, imo.

[Eff Pandas]

No, like "Make America Great Again" nonsense; Joe Smith Jr is a hard-scrabble, Long Island-born man (Peter King, the US Congressman for the region, is a conservative guy who isn't ugly about it), so I don't see any venom coming from him. Still, with the country being what it is, folks are going to see "black guy" vs "white guy", the boxing folks with the inherent bias against Andre Ward will push their stories into the ether, and the reactionary folks in the media space will pick that up and likely turn it into something ugly, imo.

I don't think it'll get all like that, but there is a working class guy made good at an elite level in boxing appealing story with Smith that could potentially go somewhere and people could construe that as standard black vs white bs that wouldn't necessarily be about that for the overwhelming majority of fans.

[Scipio2009]

I don't think it'll get all like that, but there is a working class guy made good at an elite level in boxing appealing story with Smith that could potentially go somewhere and people could construe that as standard black vs white bs that wouldn't necessarily be about that for the overwhelming majority of fans.

We'll see.

"working class guy made good" versus "inner city kid who achieved great" would be a really strong tagline, highlighting the positives in both guys, while also holding true to the character of both guys.

I've just seen too much of that racial nonsense, on this site and other sites, that I doubt that that ends up being the path taken, tbh

[Pigeons]

No, like "Make America Great Again" nonsense; Joe Smith Jr is a hard-scrabble, Long Island-born man (Peter King, the US Congressman for the region, is a conservative guy who isn't ugly about it), so I don't see any venom coming from him. Still, with the country being what it is, folks are going to see "black guy" vs "white guy", the boxing folks with the inherent bias against Andre Ward will push their stories into the ether, and the reactionary folks in the media space will pick that up and likely turn it into something ugly, imo.

I think you're mistaking the intelligence and class of a man like Andre Ward with a guy like Bernard Hopkins.

I think a double feature with Stevenson-Smith and Berto-Algieri would sell very well in New York. Put it on FOX and it should average at least 2M for the entire card.

[BOXEO _]

Great for Smith. He earned it.

[Eff Pandas]

We'll see.

"working class guy made good" versus "inner city kid who achieved great" would be a really strong tagline, highlighting the positives in both guys, while also holding true to the character of both guys.

I've just seen too much of that racial nonsense, on this site and other sites, that I doubt that that ends up being the path taken, tbh

In fairness far too many promoters try to push the whole "inner city kid who's trying to achieve greatness" angle with their fighters wayyyy before we get to where Ward is at in his career now. I dog Thurman for that flute bs, but honestly I love that some en****** show fighters (black or otherwise) as more than inner city ruffians. Its a tired played out angle even when a guy was an inner city ruffian cuz there is usually so many more positive or unique angles to take with a fighter persona to give him a better image.

But I mean if you are talking fans than thats a whole other angle cuz some fans live & die on racial sh^t with topics that have nothing to do with racial sh^t to most cats lol.