Sullivan Barrera vs. Joe Smith Jr. All But Done for July 15 on HBO

[Mexi-Box]

Who could complain about this card? I love it. I'm dying to see Berchelt fight again and Miura refuses to be in a bad fight. Miura could actually die in this fight though because Berchelt is nothing nice in there.

Also, I love this fight for Joe Smith Jr and I love how his handlers are bringing him along slowly with this fight. He has an exciting fan friendly style and he's got a great back story. Fighting a solid pro like Barrera will give us a good measuring stick as to what we should expect from this guy going forward. Considering, he's been a part time fighter/roofer, it will be interesting to see how good he could get by putting the time in as a full time professional boxer. I love this night of boxing so far.

I hate this fight for Smith. It's way too risky right now. He's still a part time boxer who owns multi-million dollar potential -- so this fight is slightly nuts.

I love this fight for Barrera. All Barrera has done is box and he's been in with some of the best. He looked a little green fighting Ward, but he caught Ward with some good punches, didn't get punished a great deal, and the fight moved him to another level of awareness. In the Shabranskyy fight Barrera showed massive improvements. In the most talented division in Boxing you need great skills at the top. Not good skills. Not damned good skills. Great skills. This is not a division where you have Willie Pastrano, Jose Torres, and Dick Tiger at the top and you can walk into a title. It's more like Bob Foster, Billy Conn, and Michael Spinks blocking your path. You need to get ready.

If Barrera were a light hitter like Ward I wouldn't hesitate putting Smith in there. That's a massive learning experience because Ward shows you a million tricks. It's good money too so you need to consider that as well. All Barrera is likely to do is beat the living crap out of you. I'm only saying this because Smith is so talented and has so much potential. If he had 5 or 6 intermediary fights with guys like Marcus Browne, Robert Stieglitz, Isaac Chilemba, and Nathan Cleverly he would win all those fights and round out his skills. He would be more than ready for guys like this.

As usual, you have no idea what you are talking about. Smith has about 5 fights more than Barerra. Both are ready. Ward basically shut out Barerra if I remember right. Smith KO'd Fonfara and BHop.

Ward beat Barrera for sure, but it was a competitive fight.

[Kalan]

He certainly didn't shut him out... And Barrera has come on tons since that fight.