ESPN Smith vs. Geffrard WBO Turning Stone Card Preview
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Verona, NY (January 14th, 2022)– USA ESPN, ESPN +, and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing will present a four-bout card of exciting pro boxing on Saturday evening, January 15, 2022, featuring Joe Smith Jr. defending his World Boxing Organisation World Light Heavyweight title in a scheduled 12 rounder against late substitute challenger Steve Geffrard. Four bouts are listed as televised, beginning at 10 P.M. EST on USA ESPN.
Smith, 27-3 with 21 knockouts, Long Island, New York, will face Steve Geffrard, 18-2 with 12 knockouts, Miami, Florida, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter who has won 18 straight bouts. Smith, who had beat former world champions Bernard Hopkins and Eleider Alvarez, won the vacant WBO title in April 2021 when he beat Maxim Vlasov of the Russian Federation by 12 round majority decision. Vlasov was originally scheduled to fight Smith in February 2021, a bout delayed when Vlasov contracted the Coronavirus but subsequently recovered. Smith’s originally scheduled bout with Umar Salamov was postponed by Smith’s promoter Joe DeGuardia when Smith Jr. contracted the Coronavirus in October 2021, scrapping the Salamov bout. Salamov fought for the World Boxing Association World Light Heavyweight title instead, losing a 12 round decision to Dmitry Bivol in December 2021, this after losing to Sullivan Barrera, losing two of three bouts overall after knocking Hopkins out of the ring for a 20 count victory when Hopkins refused to reenter the ring in the eighth round in December 2016 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Opportunity knocks for the unheralded and lightly regarded but dangerous sparring partner Geffrard, 2010 PAL and USA National champion and USA Boxing amateur athlete of the year, Geffrard is coming off an eight-round decision win over veteran Denis Grachev in Delray Beach, Florida in March 2021. His amateur record was 130-15. Geffrard won the WBO Asia Pacific Light Heavyweight title in December 2016 with a seventh-round stoppage of former WBC World Light Heavyweight title challenger Dmitry Sukhotskiy to crack the WBO world ratings. Geffrard has sparred for Artur Beterbiev, Jonathan Buatsi, Eleider Alvarez, Chad Dawson, Glen Johnson and Sergey Kovalev, a who’s who of present and former world champions and contenders which could explain why no big names would dare to fight him, given his level of ability and track record of being able to hold his own with the best.
The decision is too close to call. A decisive knockout or several knockdowns could make the outcome of the bout clearer. Smith hits hard, but has been outworked decisively by three technical fighters. Which version of Geffrard which shows up will determine if this bout is a live wire or not. If it is, there could be smoke and thunder for as long as it lasts. A knockout favors Smith. A decision by technical skill favors Geffrard, a former national amateur champion and amateur fighter of the year in the United States. Geffrard had been in training for another bout, and was in the sauna cutting weight, when this opportunity of a lifetime arose. The January 14, 2022 weigh-in will tell an amazing story for these two warriors.
In the preliminary bout to the main event, super featherweight contender Abraham Nova, 20-0 with 14 knockouts, Albany, New York by way of Puerto Rico, in a scheduled 10 rounder against William Encarnacion, 19-1 with 15 knockouts, San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic, a former World Boxing Council Latino Super Bantamweight champion. Nova is predicted to win by decision, or stoppage from the seventh round on.
Rising middleweight prospect Trey Isley, 3-0 with two knockouts, Alexandria, Virginia, will face southpaw Harry Keenan Cruz Cubano, 6-2 with two knockouts, a Puerto Rican fighting out of Florida. Welterweight prospect Jahi Tucker, 5-0 with three knockouts, Deer Park, New York, will face veteran Akeem Black, 6-4 with two knockouts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Black is coming off a four round decision over Roy McGill in November 2021.
COMMENTS
English