?I?m happy to take this victory back home to New York to all my fans. Now everybody knows who I am. This is the best thing that could have happened??
Saturday night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18 KOs), the 14-to-1 underdog from Brookhaven, New York, TKO?d Andrzej Fonfara (28-4, 16 KOs), from Chicago by way of Warsaw, Poland, at 2:32 of the first round to win the WBC International light heavyweight title.
Fighting out of the red corner in green and black trunks, Smith was looking to end it early. Unimpressed by the quality of opposition Fonfara had faced, which included Adonis Stevenson, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and Nathan Cleverly, he was going for broke at the opening bell.
Fonfara, fighting out of the blue corner in black trunks trimmed with gold, came into the fight ranked #2 by the WBC, #3 by the WBA, and #4 by the WBO. Smith had not lost a fight since 2010, but his opponents were less an assemblage of who?s who than a motley crew of who?s that.
Both fighters traded recklessly in the two-plus minutes the fight lasted. Fonfara was putting some hurt on Smith when he got caught with a right hand that dropped him to the canvas. Rather than taking the count, Fonfara got unsteadily to his feet. Smith smelled blood and went for the kill. Another big right followed by a combination caught Fonfara and down he went again.
The referee, Hector Afu, dispensed with the formality of issuing a 10-count. Fonfara was finished. The ref waved it off and the Upset of the Year was at an end.
?There?s no feeling like this,? said Smith after the fight. ?I?m happy to take this victory back home to New York to all my fans. Now everybody knows who I am. This is the best thing that could have happened.
?I expected to go 10 rounds. Andrzej. He?s a great fighter, but I worked real hard, trained harder than I ever have in my life. Each fight I?m working harder and harder. I came here today to prove a point, that I belong here with the best. I proved that tonight. He?s fought the best fighters in the world and no one?s dominated him the way I have.
?Once I started hitting him and pushing him back, he fell away and left himself open for the right hand. He was punching and I knew he leaves himself open. I was just looking for the punch and it landed.
