Ishe Smith vs. Ryan Davis on May 2nd in Las Vegas, Nevada

By Boxing News - 04/24/2014 - Comments

smith555By Allan Fox: 35-year-old former IBF junior middleweight champion Ishe Smith (25-6, 11 KO’s) will be facing replacement opponent journeyman Ryan Davis (24-13-3, 9 KO’s) in a 10 round bout on May 2nd at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Smith had previously been scheduled to fight for a world title on May 2nd against WBA 154lb champion Erislandy Lara, but he pulled out of the fight due to a much bigger money match-up being put together against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

This move left Smith without an opponents, so the 35-year-old Davis was found for Smith to at least have a stay busy fight.

Davis has lost five out of his last six fights in the past three years. He’s been knocked out by Mikael Zewski, Vanes Martirosyan and Jorge Melendez. Davis has been a pro since 1999, and he’s been in with the likes of Zab Judah, Dominik Britsch and David Lopez, in addition to Martirosyan, Melendez and Zewski.

Smith lost his IBF 154lb title to Carlos Molina by a 12 round split decision last September on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Canelo fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a winnable fight for Smith, but he spent too much time clinching Molina instead of throwing punches. Molina made it tough on him by collapsing forward with each punch he threw, and this put Smith in a position where he was forced to try and fight on the inside. Molina was the better fighter on the inside and was able to get the better of Smith.

It might be a good thing that Lara pulled out of the fight with Smith because it wouldn’t have been good for Smith had that fight taken place. Lara is a lot quicker than him, and he likely would have won an easy 12 round decision. There are guys at 154 that Smith matches up well against, but Lara isn’t one of them.



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