Seeks return after health issues knock him off Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard
By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times
Health issues knocked Kennett Squares Anthony Caputo Smith off the undercard of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, but he returns to the ring Saturday night in Valley Forge.
There are a lot of things that can cause a temporary elevation in a person’s blood pressure including alcohol, caffeine, room temperature, smoking and emotional stress.
Being scheduled to fight on the undercard of an international boxing event which is billed as the “Fight of the Century” can definitely initiate a bit of emotional stress.
Just ask Kennett Square pro boxer Anthony Caputo Smith.
Last month, Smith was scheduled to fight Andrew Omotunde Tabiti on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas.
Smith was in the dressing room getting ready for his fight and he got knocked out — without ever stepping in the ring.
Las Vegas fight officials told Smith his blood pressure was too high and that we would not be permitted to fight.
Fortunately, Smith rebounded from the emotional KO in fine form. He returned home, continued to train hard and now is set to fight Garrett Wilson on June 20 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort.
The fight, which is the main event of a six-bout professional card at the casino in King of Prussia, will be a 12-round showdown with Smith’s Pennsylvania State Cruiserweight title on the line.
Smith may have put the Las Vegas incident behind him but it’s something he will remember until his dying day.
“I got the call three weeks before the fight,” said Smith, who is nicknamed “The Bull.” “I don’t know why they called me that late. They probably didn’t want their fighter’s opponent to be prepared. It seemed that everything surrounding the fight was set up for us to fail.”
The fight was on a Saturday night and Smith and his team were expecting to fly out to Las Vegas on on Wednesday. Instead, Mayweather Promotions changed their tickets to Thursday night. And, instead of a non-stop to Vegas, the air routing took them to L.A. and then to Las Vegas.
Instead of a four-hour trip, they spent more than 13 hours on the journey. When they finally arrived in Las Vegas around 2:30 a.m. Friday, the situation really started to take a turn for the worse.
“We didn’t get nothing,” said Smith. “They didn’t pick us up. There were no hotel rooms for us. They didn’t have our credentials. We got to the MGM Grand Hotel and we weren’t on the list. My trainer had to use his own credit card to pay for the rooms.”
Tabiti, Smith’s scheduled opponent , was trained by Mayweather and has a 9-0 (9 KOs) record against a hand-picked and relatively soft lineup of opponents.
“They were definitely setting us up to fail,” said Smith, who is 15-4-0 (10 KOs). “Tabiti hasn’t been in the ring with anyone like me. I was going to steamroll.
“Leading up to the fight, I had five physicals to make sure I passed every one. I train in South Philly and I was running every day. I was in great shape.”
Then, at the weigh-in in Vegas, Smith’s blood pressure was elevated.
“It was a stressful time and they had us running all around,” said Smith. “When they took my blood pressure at the weigh-in Friday afternoon, I told the doctor that if you do it with the digital monitor, it’s always higher for me and that if you do it with the manual one, it’s always lower. He took it again with the manual cuff and it was lower.
“It went the same way the night of the fight. I was getting ready to put the gloves on. They took my blood pressure twice on digital and then said they forgot to bring the manual one. Ten minutes later, a lady comes into the dressing room and said I couldn’t fight.
“Mayweather Productions runs Las Vegas and they could have made it work. The way they treated us was a joke. They stripped us of our wristbands, told us to leave the arena and took us to a conference room in the MGM Grand Hotel where we could watch the main event on TV.”
As it turned out, Mayweather Productions not only did not give Smith the five-figure paycheck he would have received had the fight happened, they didn’t even provide meal money for Smith and his entourage.
“The way they treated us was a joke,” said Smith. “It was so unprofessional. Even club dates are better. Mayweather Productions sets its fighters up to win — no matter what.”
Now, Smith is back at home and fighting in a venue just 30 miles from his home. He has been given the green light by the cardiologist and is ready to defend the Pennsylvania State Cruiserweight title he won with a split decision over Anthony Ferrante last year.
“I’m looking to defend my title,” said Smith. “I haven’t felt this hungry in years. Growing up in Philly, you have to fight the tough fight. That’s where we get our toughness.”
Smith won the first 13 fights of his career — most of which were fought at the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Dover, Delaware. The venue was also the site of his first loss — a TKO by Kevin Engel on August 31, 2012. In his next fight, Caputo Smith rebounded with a 10-round majority decision over Dhafir Smith to win the USA Pennsylvania State light heavyweight title.
After that, Smith traveled to Las Vegas to fight undefeated Sean Monaghan for the WBC Continental Americas light heavyweight title at the Thomas & Mack Center. Unfortunately for him, he was on the wrong end of a TKO.
Smith returned to this area for a fight against Anthony Ferrante for the vacant USA Pennsylvania State cruiserweight title. Smith logged a split decision to win the belt in the fight at Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester. After the Dhafir Smith fight, Smith decided to move up from the Light Heavyweight class (175 pounds) to the Cruiserweight division (200 pounds).
“Moving up to cruiserweight changed everything,” said Smith. “I was coming down every fight from 215, 220 to make 175 and that was too much. I was killing myself to make that weight. I went to cruiserweight and won the Pennsylvania State title.”
Wilson, who is nicknamed “The Ultimate Warrior,” has a 13-9-1 record with two KOs. The 32-year-old fighter from Philadelphia is 5-8 and has a 72.5-inch reach. In his last four fights, he has lost to Russia’s Alexander Alekseev, Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Glazkov, South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu and Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.
The card also features Keenan Collins vs. Pavel Miranda (middleweight), Coy Evans vs. Jose Bustos (junior lightweight), Kevin Garcia vs. Jack Grady (lightweight), Samuel Quinones vs. Ryan Belasco (junior welterweight) and Eric Spring vs. Robert Sweeny (junior middleweight).
Saturday night’s boxing show at the Valley Forge Casino Resort (1160 First Avenue, King of Prussia, 610-354-8118, https://vfcasino.com/events/live-boxing) will have its first bout at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are priced at $50, $75 and $100.
