By Ian S Palmer
Erickson Lubin of Orlando, Florida will be taking on former IBF Jr Middleweight Champ Ishe Smith of Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday, February 9th in Carson, California. The 10-round bout is on the undercard of the Gervonta Davis vs Hugo Ruiz bout which can be seen live on Showtime in the USA and on TSN 5 in Canada. Lubin stopped Silverio Ortiz in the fourth round in his last outing in April of 2018. Smith’s last outing came in May of last year when he lost a 10-round split decision to Tony Harrison.
The 23-year-old Lubin is a southpaw who has an impressive record of 19-1 along with 14 Kos. The youngster has quite a bit of power in his speedy fists with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent and eight stoppages in his last 11bouts. Lubin stands just over 5-feet-9-inches tall and has a 74.5-inch reach. He turned pro in November of 2013 and has 75 rounds under his belt since then. Lubin’s stiffest test came in October of 2017 when he faced Jermell Charlo in a shot at the WBC Jr. Middleweight Title, but he was stopped in the first round.
Lubin has beaten the likes of Alexis Camacho, Orlando Lora, Norberto Gonzalez, Daniel Sandoval, Ivan Montero, Juan Ubaldo Cabrera and Jorge Cota. He’s a good-looking prospect with a lot of potential, but may not be ready for another world title shot just yet. However, he had plenty of amateur experience and was also a national Golden Gloves champion as a welterweight back in 2013. With his speed, power and size, he should be able to have his moments against Smith.
The 40-year-old Smith is 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 71-inch wingspan, so is basically the same height as Lubin with a 3.5-inch disadvantage in reach. Smith turned pro back in 2000 and has 264 rounds to his name since. He’s actually the first ever Las Vegas-born boxer to hold a world championship. He achieved this when he took the IBF Jr. Middleweight crown from Cornelius Bundrage via a majority decision in February of 2013.
However, Smith lost that belt just seven months later when Carlos Molina beat him by a split decision. He enters the fight with a record of 29-10 with 12 Kos, so it’s not too hard to tell that he doesn’t have much in the way of power with a current knockout ratio of just 31 per cent. He’s also lost two fights in a row as Julian Williams beat him by 10-round unanimous decision in November, 2017. Smith is basically regarded as a defensive counterpuncher rather than an aggressive pressure fighter and he lacks the power to keep heavy-handed punchers off of him.
Smith’s other losses have been at the hands of Vanes Martirosyan, Erislandy Lara, Carlos Molina, Fernando Guerrero, Daniel Jacobs, Joel Julio, Sechew Powell and Sergio Mora. However, he has an excellent chin and has never been stopped. His biggest wins have been against Bundrage, Pawel Wolak, Anthony Bonsante, Randall Bailey and David Estrada. The former champ is always competitive and has fought several world-class boxers, but has usually come out on the wrong end of decisions when stepping up in class.
Prediction…
Some boxers try to take advantage of Smith’s lack of power and wade right in, but Lubin might attempt to outbox him. Smith’s best chance here is to just keep throwing punches to the body and head and make sure Lubin doesn’t get into any kind of groove. He’s going to have to make sure he doesn’t leave any wide openings for Lubin to counter him though. Smith should give Lubin a good battle, but I think he’ll fall just short once again.
