Joe Smith Jr., the 28-year-old fighting construction worker from Long Island, never got the monstrous, life-changing payday that should?ve come his way?
In boxing, if you want a quick and disproportionately large payday, be a blue-collar white kid with a big punch and a working-class backstory. Boxing media and fans eat that shit up. Networks orgasm at the thought of having a bankable white guy to peddle. And if you can score a big win or two over some ?name? opposition on your way up, then you?re REALLY going to cash in!
Or, at least you SHOULD cash in.
Joe Smith Jr., the 28-year-old fighting construction worker from Long Island, never got the monstrous, life-changing payday that should?ve come his way. Instead, he fights for relative chump change this weekend on a Mohegan Sun Casino show in Uncasville, CT against journeyman Melvin Russell.
Less than two years ago, though, Smith was on the verge of getting his payout and also on the verge of seeing whether his heavy hands could take him to the very top of the light heavyweight division where even more money could?ve been had.
The always-tough, but decidedly not-ready-for-primetime Smith started his unlikely run to the near-top with a shocking first round stoppage of the well-regarded Andrzej Fonfara in June of 2016 and then rode a wave to an HBO main event six months later against future first ballot Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins.
Maybe the Hopkins fight WAS this white kid?s payday?a solid $140K cash-out and a video to show his grandkids one day. Smith was clearly picked as B-side to the 51-year-old Hopkins because he was seen as a game, but limited opponent who had temporarily elevated his status with the Fonfara blowout.
But what was to be Hopkins? going away party turned into a forced retirement as Smith proved to be too strong and too focused to be the fall guy he was intended to be. Not only did Smith beat Hopkins, but he did it in the best possible manner for a pug looking to build towards bigger fights?he knocked Hopkins right through the ropes en route to an eighth round KO win.
A month later, Smith was back at his construction day gig, posing for pics with the foreman at the site, hard hat cocked to the side, WBC international light heavyweight belt over his shoulder. Soon enough, the money would come pouring in.
It never did, though.
Talks to set up a shot at WBC world champ Adonis Stevenson fell apart for various reasons?maybe, mostly, because talks with Stevenson almost seem to invariably fall apart. Meanwhile, Sergey Kovalev and division newcomer Andre Ward busied themselves with one another with the WBO/WBA/IBF titles in play.
It would?ve been prudent for Smith to take a couple of soft touches while letting the divisional dust settle and while waiting on a world title opportunity. The money would eventually come because he was still regarded as a limited and beatable fighter with, because of his back-to-back upsets, an increasingly marketable name. Someone would?ve come along to exchange a bag of loot for Smith?s name on their r?sum?. And, who knows, maybe the kid could?ve flipped the script yet again to walk away with a world title. Then, everything would?ve been pushed forward even further, the size of the eventual cash-out growing as his run continued.
Instead, Smith?s people saw fit to guide him into a dangerous stay busy fight on an HBO undercard against the skilled Cuban Sullivan Barrera, who got up from a first round knockdown to fracture Smith?s jaw and school him the rest of the way. The one-sided beating effectively killed off all of Smith?s career momentum and, while he did walk away with a career-high purse of $160K, this was pretty much the end of the line when it came to trying to parlay the Fonfara and Hopkins upsets into something really big.
Smith is re-starting his career Saturday in Uncasville, but, honestly, there may not be a road back to the top. He has gone from being a beatable name to a heavy-handed risk. In other words, there?s now less value in his name than the risk involved in taking him on.
A bottlenecked 175 lb. division and an odd career decision worked together to kill Smith?s chances of getting the payday headed his way.
And boxing, as much as it loves the great white hope underdog, is also quick to dismiss blue-collar heroes who can?t keep their fairytale stories alive.
