Boxing making imperfect return to Long Island
LONG Island is playing host to its first boxing card in 31 years Saturday night, while its most notable boxing star is fighting in Los Angeles. Go figure.
Joe Smith Jr. from Shirley will defend his WBC International light heavyweight championship against Sullivan Barrera of Miami at the Forum in Inglewood as part of a triple-header to be televised on HBO.
Smith (23-1, 19 KOs) is coming off back-to-back upset wins over former world challenger Andrzej Fonfara and future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins at the Forum.
He would be ideal to headline at the refurbished Nassau Coliseum now known as NYCB Live at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
But he will be fighting Barrera (19-1, 14 KOs) 3,000 miles away.
Instead it will be Omar Figueroa Jr. of Texas and former world champion Robert Guerrero of California meeting in the main of event at the Coliseum.
“Unfortunately, it’s consistent with our sport,” said Joe DeGuardia, Smith’s promoter. “Sometimes you can’t do what makes sense. It makes sense to keep Joe on the East Coast. But in the long run it could be better for him. He can have a New York following and can build a West Coast following.”
Networks often have as much say as promoters do about who fights where and when. HBO is intrigued with Smith, whose punching power and blue-collar background is an easy sell. The Coliseum card is a Premier Boxing Champions production promoted by DiBella Entertainment.
Figueroa (26-0-1, 18 KOs) versus Guerrero (33-5-1, 18 KOs) has a lot of national appeal and is one of three bouts to be televised by FOX.
Marcus Browne (19-0, 14 KOs) of Staten Island meets Seanie Monaghan (28-0, 17 KOs) of Mineola in a matchup of unbeaten light heavyweights, while Artur Szpilka (20-2, 15 KOs) and Adam Kownacki (15-0, 12 KOs) engage in a test of Polish heavyweights.
“It’s a national card for TV so the show has to have balance,” DiBella said. “We have a lot of Long Island kids on the undercard because you need some of that, too. We’ll have a nice crowd and we can build something from there.”
Smith is on the undercard of a main event where Miguel “El Alacran” Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) of Mexico is defending his WBC super featherweight championship against Takashi Miura (313-2, 24 KOs) of Japan. Jezreel Corrales (21-1, 8 KOs) of Panama also defends his WBA super featherweight title against Robinson Castellanos (24-12, 14 KOs) of Mexico.
Smith won’t be in unfamiliar territory having sent Hopkins into retirement last December. Fighting in Long Island would have been nice, but he is happy with the opportunity to beat Barrera. “I would have been happy fighting on Long Island,” Smith told The Post. “I would have had more of my home crowd there. But they’ll be watching on TV. I’m just as excited fighting in Los Angeles. Either way it works out for me.”
The Long Island card was buried this week in the shadow of Thursday’s spectacle at Barclays Center where Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor promoted their Aug. 26 bout in Las Vegas.
Unlike that event, there was no profanity or homophobic slurs exchanged in the buildup to Saturday’s card at the Coliseum. The attraction is their skill, their records and the importance of the bouts.
“As a promoter and boxing guy, I know all three of these fights could be brawls,” DiBella said. “I know the main event is a brawl. It’s two guys that throw down and don’t have defense. They’re offensive minded guys that are true warriors. Marcus can’t afford to lose to Seanie and Seanie has fought his whole life for this kind of f ight. There’s a lot at stake. SzpilkaKownacki is a grudge match. They’ve been talking trash to each other endlessly for about a year. Boxing needs good fights like this.”