Ishe Smith blasts Prize Fight Promotions but is it warranted?

Recently former Contender series one fighter Ishe Smith went on the record with boxingscene.com and blasted boxing promotional company Prize Fight Promotions. Back on July 16th, Smith came up short against rising middleweight contender Fernando Guerrero in Southaven, Mississippi. It was a nasty, rough fight that both fighters felt long after it was over with.  During the fight, referee Randy Phillips took a point away from Smith for low blows, some of which Smith himself admitted were indeed low.  During one of the rounds, the referee (Phillips) stopped the action and walked to the side of the ring and told Prize Fight head Brian Young to stop yelling at him.  Young was screaming at Phillips to do something about the amount of low blows that his fighter was receiving.  Is that such a bad thing?  Is there a promoter in the country that doesn't do that for his fighter?

In Smith's interview with Boxingscene, he calls Prize Fight a "Two cent promoter" and blasted away about the referee and the judging.  That's all well and fine, but the promoter does not control who judges the fight, and who referees the fight.  Prize Fight has nothing to do with what referee or what judges are used during a fight.  Secondly, Prize Fight Promotions is far from a "Two cent promoter". They have promoted one of the largest PPV fights in boxing history, Mike Tyson Vs Lennox Lewis. The outfit also brought along the successful Peterson brothers, and promoted Zab Judah, who under Prize Fight was given a world title shot against Miguel Cotto.  Prize Fight is actually one of the best promotional companies in the country at moving fighters from nothing to contention.  The company has been recognized by the NABO as their 2007 promoter of the year, and have sold out their Fight's at The Fitz shows for multiple years in a row.

This writer has been covering Prize Fight Promotions for many years now, and in all of my time covering them they have been nothing but a class act organization.  I have interviewed their fighters for many years now as well, and not one time has anyone had a bad thing to say about them both on or off of the record.  The proof is in the pudding when you look at this promotional outfit.  Their fighters get world title shots.  Their fighters are kept busy and their fighters stay with them, and it's all for a good reason.  The company takes care of their own. 

A few years ago while attending a little amateur show in Pearl Mississippi, I remember seeing a white van pull up, a bunch of kids got off of the van wearing Prize Fight Promotion shirts.  Brian Young was last off of the bus, he brought his amateur kids down to the fight.  Young worked the corner each time one of his kids fought, showing a rare act of dedication that you don't see many other professional boxing promoters do.  

Ishe Smith has most definitely improved his boxing skills and he's shown that in his last few peformances.  With that said, his attack on Prize Fight Promotions in this writers opinion is off base.  Does he have a case against the judges or the referee?  Perhaps yes, but to blast the promoter by calling them a "Two cent promotion company" is not called for.

Prize Fight showed what kind of organization they are that night in a display of class that had nothing to do with boxers. During the evening the company gave out courage awards to two individuals who are fighting the fight of their lives.  An 11 year old girl who's battling cancer and a 60 year old Army veteran who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Both received courage awards that had the entire crowd in tears.  The ring announcer brought each of them into the ring and presented them with the Prize Fight courage award.  Earlier in the evening I noticed the little girl as she was brought up to the ring to see Brian Young.  When Young saw her coming, he dropped what he was doing and embraced the child into his arms.  This is the kind of stuff that should be reported on the websites.

Smith in this writers opinion definitely fought a much closer fight than the score cards reflected.  He did however throw some low blows in the fight, and he himself admitted that. One thing that has gone misreported was just how good of a fight the young Guerrero fought.  This was a big step up fight for Guerrero, and he weathered a tough storm and got a tough well earned victory.  Guerrero showed his quick hands, and his true toughness throughout a very tough fight.  Showtime analyst and former light heavyweight world champion Antonio Tarver said after the fight, "Guerrero was baptized in the ring of fire tonight.  He went from prospect to contender in one night."

It was a close fight between two tough fighters.  The promotional company did nothing but bring a great stacked card to Showtime Boxing, and despite severe weather the place was packed.  Smith may have a gripe with the referee and or the judges, but his blast on Prize Fight Promotions wasn't the right thing to do.