By Jeff Aranow: Youth prevailed tonight with junior middleweight contender Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs) using his size and power advantage to pound out a 10 round split decision victory over 39-year-old former IBF 154lb champion Ishe Smith (29-10, 12 KOs) on Friday night on Premier Boxing Champions on Bounce TV at Sam’s Town Hotel Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The scores were 97-92, 96-93 for the 27-year-old Harrison and 95-94 for Smith. Boxing News 24 scored it 97-92 for Harrison. It was a one-sided fight from start to finish. Harrison looked like he could have knocked Smith out in the 9th and 10th rounds if he had wanted to, but he appeared to carry him and push for the knockout. Harrison showed a lot of class in not looking to finish Smith, because he had him hurt and ready to be knocked out going into the last two rounds.
Harrison, #10 WBC, #11 IBF knocked Smith down with a right hand in round 3. The shot put Smith down on his knees. He didn’t see I coming from Harrison, who stopped moving suddenly unleashed a short right hand that caught Smith flush on the head, sending him down on his knees. Harrison was clever to utilize his fast feet to find angles to nail the flat-footed Smith. Referee Tony Weeks gave Smith a count, but he was able to beat the count, but he looked hurt after he got back to his feet. Harrison didn’t gun for a knockout for some reason. He could have if he wanted to, but he seemed concerned about gassing out. Harrison had faded and been stopped by Jarrett Hurd and Willie Nelson. Harrison wasn’t going to let that happen tonight, so he took things slow and was more methodical.
In the 4th, Harrison hurt Smith with a chopping right hand on the top of his head after he tried to duck under one of his shots. Smith looked like he was wearing down in the round from the heavy shots from Harrison.
In the 6th, Harrison tagged Smith with a big right hand that hurt him. Harrison then unloaded on Smith with a series of chopping shots to the head. Smith took the shots, and somehow he was able to make it out of the round without going down. Harrison looked surprisingly fresh still at the end of the round. In his previous fights, he would be exhausted after throwing this many punches in the 6th. I don’t think Harrison’s conditioning has improved. It’s more of a case that he wasn’t fighting a pressure fighter that was forcing him to expend energy.
Harrison was hit with some big shots from Smith in round 7. Harrison got careless and found himself getting nailed by right hands from Smith, who might have done some damage if he had any kind of power. Those shots would have been knockout blows if it was Jarrett Hurd and Willie Nelson throwing them. Harrison was stopped by both of those fighters in the past. Harrison settled down in the second half of the round, connecting with some lefts to the head and straight rights. Harrison was starting to look a little cocky by the end of the round. He seemed to know already that he was going to win. Smith’s lack of punching power was the best thing that he had going for him.
In round 8, Harrison was catching Smith frequently with left-right combinations to the head and uppercuts. Smith was staggered a hard uppercut to the head. His legs looked totally gone. To support himself, Smith went to the ropes and covered up. Harrison took advantage of that by tagging him repeatedly with big shots. Smith was failing to utilize his hooks, because Harrison right there in front of him and open to anything. The strength wasn’t there in Smith’s punches. He looked drained and old. Every shot Smith landed was weak. This was such a one-sided round that you can argue that it should have been scored as a 10-8. Smith looked ready to be knocked out.
At the start of round 9, Harrison launched a monstrous right hand that shook Smith to his boots. The shot caused Smith to back up against the ropes and cover up. Harrison started tagging Smith with everything he had. Showing super human will, Smith got off the ropes and came forward under a hail of fire from Harrison. Just when Smith looked like he was ready to be knocked out, Harrison stopped hitting him as hard, and visibly let up on him. Harrison started throwing fewer punches with less power. It didn’t look like he was tired. It appeared that he showing mercy to Smith by not going for a knockout against the aging warrior.
Smith went all out in the 10th, loading up on everything he had to try for a knockout, but it was no use. Harrison calmly ducked the shots, and moved around the ring, jabbing mostly and not looking to end the fight. Harrison didn’t seem to care that Smith was trying to take his head off with every shot. He looked very relaxed and unconcerned.
In other results on tonight’s card, unbeaten cruiserweight contender Andrew Tabiti (16-0, 13 KOs) defeated 35-year-old Lateef Kayode (21-3, 16 KOs) by a 6th round knockout. Tibiti knocked Kayode down in the 6th. The fight was then stopped. The 28-year-old Tibiti picks up his 16th win of his career. Tibiti keeps winning, but he still hasn’t fought any of the talented cruiserweights in the division, and it’s unclear whether he’s improving. Tibiti still looks very flawed and beatable despite getting another win over a hapless opponent. Tibiti is rated IBF #3, WBC #4. He does not look ready to fight for a world title against IBF champion Murat Gassiev or WBC champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The loss for Kayode was his third consecutive. In Kayode’s two previous defeats, he was beaten by Keith Tapia and Denis Lebedev. Kayode’s career has not looked the same since being stopped in the 1st round by Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz in September 2014. Kayode was hit with 15 consecutive shots from Ortiz before the fight was halted. After the fight, Ortiz tested positive for a banned drug. Subsequently, the Nevada State Athletic Commission changed the result of the Ortiz-Kayode fight to a no-contest.
Welterweight Erick Bone (20-5, 8 KOs) defeated journeyman Cameron Krael (13-13-3, 3 KOs) by a 10 round split decision. The 29-year-old Bone was given the nod by the judges’ scores 95-94, 96-94, and 95-94 for Krael. It was Bone’s fourth consecutive win. Before Bone started his recent winning streak, he was beaten by Eddie Ramirez, Miguel Vazquez, Chris Algieri and Shawn Porter in consecutive fights from 2015 to 2017.
Lightweight Ladarius Miller (16-1, 5 KOs) defeated Jose Marrufo (10-8-2, 0 KOs) by an 8 round unanimous decision. The scores were 78-72, 77-74 and 79-71. Miller knocked Marrufo down in the 2nd.