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(December 1, 2009) Disappointed by a doctor’s order to sit out his scheduled November 21 bout, Ishe “Sugar Shay” Smith is now back in the gym, cleared by doctors to fight, and has his sights set on the one that got away. That one is Gennady Golovkin, the man he was scheduled to do battle with less than two weeks ago in Germany for Golovkin’s WBO Intercontinental Championship.
“I want to still make the Gennady Golvokin fight,” said Smith. “It is very unfortunate what happened right before the fight. I enjoyed the holidays with my friends and family, but that itch to knock him off has been bothering me and it won’t leave.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Smith (21-4, 9 KOs) is eager to get in with an opponent as lauded as Golovkin (18-0, 15 KOs), rated WBC #1, WBO #1, WBA #2, and IBF #6. In the past, Smith has earned a reputation for taking on all comers, beginning with a stint on the NBC reality hit The Contender.
In August, 2008, Smith entered the ring as a sizeable underdog against unbeaten Pawel Wolak on Showtime’s ShoBox series, but dazzled Wolak over ten rounds to earn a unanimous decision. He had, and still has, similar plans for Golovkin.
“Gennady is the only one on my mind right now,” he said. “I want to go to Germany and come back home with WBO Intercontinental Championship and his lofty rankings.”
Promoter Lou DiBella has promised to work fiercely in pursuit of rescheduling his fighter’s dream bout.
“When I see the passion Ishe has about fighting Golovkin, it makes me believe there is no way Ishe doesn’t come home to America with a win,” said DiBella. “It is my hope that Golovkin and his team still want to get this done as badly as we do.”
In the meantime, Smith will do what he has always done: keep himself available for the biggest and best fighters from 154 to 160 lbs.
“I have signed for a fight and I want to go through with that fight,” said Smith. “Let’s just wait and see if Golvokin’s team reschedules this fight or if they realize they dodged a bullet and move on.”
