Karpency wins in WV, eyes Joe Smith Jr.

In his third fight in less than 3 months, former WBC, WBO and IBO world title challenger Tommy Karpency (32-9, 20KOs) returned with another win on Saturday night after stopping journeyman Ulisses Jimenez (24-36, 18KOs) in the first round of a scheduled eight-rounder at the Berkeley 2000 Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

From the start, the southpaw Karpency landed combinations at will using his superior speed and skills. A straight left from Karpency sent Jimenez to the canvas a minute into the bout followed by a 2nd knockdown coming from a right hook to the head of Jimenez. After Jimenez beat the count again, Karpency dropped his opponent a 3rd time with a right hook to the body prompting referee Brian Hiles to halt the onslaught at 2:16 of the opening stanza.

After the victory, Karpency stated, “I’m staying active, always in the gym and working my way back to a major fight at light heavyweight. However, I would be very eager to fight a smaller cruiser like Joe Smith Jr. in his comeback fight.”

Promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, former WBO champ Joe Smith Jr (28-5, 22KOs) hasn’t fought in over a year since dropping title fights in 2022 and 2023. Smith’s last victory came over Steve Geffrard, 18-2 at the time, almost 3 years ago.

“We’ve both fought for multiple world titles. Joe’s most notable win was Bernard Hopkins while my biggest win was Chad Dawson. Joe and I would make a great fight, and the winner could possibly earn another title shot,” Karpency added.

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