Joe Smith Jr.’s new foe will be Steve Geffrard after Callum Johnson’s withdrawal
Joe Smith’s long overdue first defense of his lightweight belt will finally happen.
After suffering a cancellation of his planned bout against Umar Salamov back in October 2021 and then facing the prospect of cancelling his fight against Callum Johnson when the latter was forced to call in sick due to a positive COVID test, the WBO beltholder from Long Island, NY will be taking on Miami’s Steve Geffrard on Saturday, Jan. 15, from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY, in a fight broadcasted by ESPN. BoxingScene reported the story first, and it has now been confirmed by multiple sources.
Geffrard (18-2, 12 KOs) lost his first two professional bouts but is now unbeaten since 2013. According to BoxRec.com, he was slated to fight Gonzalo Andreassen on January 8, but has now apparently cancelled that appearance to take on Smith.
The issue of Smith’s belt being at stake is still in doubt since Geffrard is not ranked by the WBO, but last-minute rearrangements of rules and rankings in the interest of making fights possible are an established reality in boxing, and the expectation is that the alphabet soup sanctioning body du jour will have no problem approving this as a title bout.
Smith (27-3, 21 KOs), rated No. 3 by The Ring, grabbed the WBO belt by defeating Maxim Vlasov by decision back in April 2021.
“I give Steve credit for taking this fight on short notice,” Smith said. “He is a tough guy, and I expect him to bring everything he has for this opportunity. I’m ready to fight regardless of who is in the ring with me. My goal is the same, which is to defend my world title and keep it on Long Island where it belongs.”Geffrard said, “This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s crazy how boxing works. One moment I’m thinking about boxing on a local show, then the phone rings for a chance to fight for the WBO world title on ESPN. Unreal!” In the 10-round co-feature, featherweight contender Abraham Nova (20-0, 14 KOs), who was originally slated to fight Jose Enrique Vivas, will fight Dominican veteran William “El Gago” Encarnacion (19-1, 15 KOs) after Vivas dropped out with an injury.
Additional information provided in a press release by Top Rank was used in this article.
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