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Ishe Smith unhappy with Nevada judging heading into fight

Updated May 10, 2018 - 5:41 pm

Ishe Smith hasn’t had to go far during his 18-year boxing career. Nineteen of Smith’s 38 professional bouts have been in his hometown of Las Vegas, including the past five.

Smith has another home bout Friday against Tony Harrison at Sam’s Town, but the former junior middleweight champion isn’t happy with the location.

“I feel like I’m on the road,” Smith said. “This may be my last fight here.”

SHORT DESCRIPTION (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Smith, 39, is frustrated with the Nevada Athletic Commission and its judges. He’s still baffled by the scorecards from his previous fight against Julian Williams on Nov. 18 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Williams won by unanimous decision in a fight many thought was close. But judges Max DeLuca, Robert Hoyle and Dave Moretti didn’t see it that way with scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93.

“Like they say, trust the process. I don’t trust the process,” Smith said. “I don’t trust (commission executive director) Bob Bennett and the process no more.”

Smith said he continues to see questionable judging in Las Vegas and has tried talking to commission officials.

“I think it’s unfortunate (Smith) has negative thoughts about our judges,” Bennett said. “They work very hard, and they are not biased and not prejudice to who wins. I can assure Mr. Smith if there is any perfidious activity among our judges, I would be all over it.”

The Las Vegan doesn’t want the match versus Harrison (26-2, 21 knockouts) to get to the scorecards. Smith (29-9, 12 KOs) is aiming for a knockout victory.

“I’ve been sparring 168-pounders and trying to knock people out,” Smith said. “I have to fight that way because I feel I’m on the road.”

Las Vegas native Andrew Tabiti will fight on the co-main event versus Lateef Kayode in a 10-round cruiserweight match. The Mayweather Promotions card will be televised on Bounce TV at 6 p.m.

Tabiti said he hopes to fight for a world title this year if he defeats Kayode.

Haney on ShoBox

Rising prospect and Las Vegas native Devin Haney returns to the ring Friday to face Mason Menard in a 10-round main event on Showtime. The ShoBox cards airs at 7 p.m. from Philadelphia.

More boxing: Follow all of our boxing coverage online at reviewjournal.com/boxing and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GManzano24 on Twitter.

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