Light heavyweight contender Joe Smith Jr. takes some time catch up with Kieran Mulvaney, in what appears to be a parking lot, to talk about his big fight this weekend against Sullivan Barrera. Check out some excerpts of what he had to say below...
Smith Jr. on juggling a job as a construction worker while training as a professional prizefighter:
“It’s tough sometimes but, uh, you know, now I can manage the two. When I need to I take off work and I focus on my training, but whenever I can use some extra work I always have a job to fall back onto.”
On if he got additional satisfaction by knocking Bernard Hopkins out after he kept teasing him about being a ‘common man’:
“Yeah, definitely. I mean, um, I’m a common man and I feel I still have to prove myself a little bit and with every fight I’m gonna improve on things and prove to the world that I deserve a title shot and hopefully I get it soon.”
On what opportunities he expects to open up with a win over Barrera:
“Well yeah, after this fight I hope that I either get [Adonis] Stevenson, [Sergey] Kovalev, or [Andre] Ward. You know, those are the three fights that I really want. I’m looking to fight for a world title and any one of those fights would be great.”
On what he thinks the key is to beating Barrera:
“Just to stay busy, outwork him, and use my power when I can.”