Joe Smith Jr.: record, next fight and profile →
NEW YORK – Bernard Hopkins called Joe Smith Jr. over for a quick chat three months ago. The Boxing Writers Association of America’s annual awards dinner in Manhattan marked the first time Hopkins had seen Smith since the heavy-handed light heavyweight contender knocked him clear out of the ring and into retirement December 17 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Kathy Duva Video Interview - Leading up to the highly anticipated light heavyweight rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev – set for Saturday, June 17 and presented live by HBO Pay-Per-View® – HBO Sports will present the exclusive replay of their first showdown which sparked a hot debate in the boxing community as the hard-fought encounter resulted in a razor-thin triumph for the undefeated challenger from the Bay Area.
Joe Smith Jr’s story is a well trodden one in boxing. A working class hero who’s striving to hit the pinnacle of the boxing world. His opponent Sullivan Barrera is a Cuban amateur standout, with a single loss to pound-for-pound great Andre Ward. Both guys will face-off on the undercard of Berchelt-Miura with a view to eventually getting a crack at a World Light-Heavyweight Championship.
The most obvious criticism of the Adonis Stevenson-Andrzej Fonfara rematch is that Stevenson could’ve fought the contender that knocked out Fonfara in the first round nearly a year ago. Promoters for Stevenson (Yvon Michel) and Joe Smith Jr. (Joe DeGuardia) negotiated, but couldn’t come to an agreement for them to fight April 29 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. That’s among the reasons Stevenson ended up agreeing to fight Fonfara (29-4, 17 KOs, 1 NC) again Saturday night at Bell Centre in Montreal (Showtime; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Boxing can be - and is - a funny business. Case in point, July 15th. On this night at the Forum in Los Angeles, Joe Smith, who is a Long Island native, will be facing Sullivan Barrera as part of an HBO triple-header. Meanwhile at the Nassau Coliseum near Long Island, a PBC on Fox card will be taking place. Coming off his banner 2016, Joe DeGuardia - the head of Star Boxing - had talked openly about having Smith headline a show in his hometown.
A couple of months ago, Sullivan Barrera and Artur Beterbiev looked to be on a collision course in what would be an IBF elimination bout. A purse bid was held and eventually won by GYM (which is headed up by Yvon Michel and represents Beterbiev) but that fight never materialized as Barrera had concerns about everything from the fight contract to the date and venue of the fight.
The last time Joe Smith (23-1, 19 KOs) was in the ring, he was capping off a banner 2016 by literally knocking Bernard Hopkins out of the ring at the Forum near Los Angeles on December 17th, scoring an eighth round stoppage. Earlier that year he had scored a shocking first round KO of heavily favored Andrzej Fonfara. It was formally announced on Wednesday that Smith would be facing Sullivan Barrera (19-1, 14 KOs) on July 15th at the Forum as part of a 'Boxing After Dark' broadcast on HBO.
LOS ANGELES - The white-hot super featherweight division will be on full display Saturday, July 15 when two world title fights come to Los Angeles' "Fabulous" Forum as part of a stacked tripleheader on HBO Boxing After Dark.
According to veteran trainer Naazim Richardson, he warned former world champion Bernard Hopkins about the possibility of suffering a vicious knockout loss. After Hopkins suffered a one-sided twelve round decision loss to Sergey Kovalev in their 2014 unification, Richardson had advised Hopkins to walk away from the sport. Hopkins, who was nearly 52-years-old, returned after more than two years of inactivity to face dangerous light heavyweight puncher Joe Smith last December.
BoxingScene.com has learned that light heavyweight contenders Sullivan Barrera and Joe Smith Jr. have agreed to terms for an intriguing fight July 15 in Inglewood, California. Contracts haven’t been finalized, but Barrera and Smith are expected to open an HBO tripleheader from The Forum that night. Their 10-round, 175-pound fight will be part of a telecast that is expected to include a WBC-mandated super featherweight title bout between Mexico’s Miguel Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs), the defending champion, and Japan’s Takashi Miura (31-3-2, 24 KOs), the WBC’s No. 1 contender.