His next fight versus Eleider Alvarez will come after yet another delay in his career, all while having spent much of his time isolated from most of the rest of the world.

If somebody didn’t tell Joe Smith Jr. that it was because of a global pandemic, the longtime light heavyweight contender never would’ve noticed.

“It’s serious what’s going on the world, but as far as affecting my training and what I usually do every day, I really can’t say it’s been any different,” Smith (25-3, 20KOs) told BoxingScene.com of his experience over the past few months. “When you’re training, you’re not really around anyone and doing things. The last few months haven’t made much of a difference to me.”

Smith has managed an extra month of training thanks to the five-week postponement of his previously scheduled engagement with Canada’s Alvarez (25-1, 13KOs), a former WBO light heavyweight titlist. The two were originally due to collide on July 16, live on ESPN from the MGM Grand Conference Center (“The Bubble”) in Las Vegas, only for Alvarez to suffer an untimely injury.

Efforts were made to get them back in the ring this weekend, with their World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title eliminator topping the mid-summer series return from the same location (Saturday, ESPN+, 10:00pm ET main card). The bout will be the first for Smith since a 10-round win over Jesse Hart this past January, one which put him on a path to return to the title stage.

The blue-collar union worker from the Mastic Beach section of Eastern Long Island, New York came up short in his lone career title bid, a 12-round decision to unbeaten Dmitry Bivol last March. The loss was his second in a span of three fights after having scored back-to-back knockout wins over Andrzej Fonfara and legendary former two-division World champion Bernard Hopkins in 2016.

Smith’s win over Hart came just as the WBO was making plans to fulfill its vacancy atop the light heavyweight division. The sanctioning body ordered a title eliminator between Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez, only for Ramirez to balk at such plans and since severing ties with Top Rank. The fallout was perfectly timed with Smith’s aforementioned win, having replaced Hart in the WBO rankings and accepting the invitation to challenge for the title.

The hope was to have fought in July and again later in the year, against the winner of the other side of the four-man tournament between Umar Salamov and Maksim Vlasov. First, he still needs to get past Alvarez on Saturday before worrying about the future.

Waiting one more month hasn’t been a concern; in fact, it’s better than how his career has played out prior to 2020.

“After the Jesse Hart fight, I knew I would be fighting Alvarez,” notes Smith. “When they gave me the (July) date, I was happy because I wanted to stay busy. Six months, even seven now, between fights is good compared to what I’ve had to become used to. I’ve had big gaps between fights and don’t want to experience that no more.

“So, now we got Alvarez now that he’s recovered from his injury or whatever was going on with him. After we beat this guy, hopefully we get to fight for the title as soon as we can. If it takes more time, look I’m used to it but I really believe this win will change things for my career. This is my second chance to prove that I have what it takes to become a world champion.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox