"The guy that scored the fight 97-91 never needs to judge a fight ever again. This is the stuff that happens in boxing and it's unfortunate when you get two guys that go out there and lay it on the line...for someone to score that fight 97-91, man, he gave me 1 round and that is absolutely uncalled for...I can make 54. I was 57 the week before the fight. They can expect for me to be the same way; explosive and putting on good fights. I will fight anybody at 154 pounds; anyone that Lou and DBE sees fit. I'm all about putting on good fights," stated middleweight Ishe Smith as he reflected on his controversial unanimous decision loss to Fernando Guerrero. Check out what else he had to say about the fight as he looks to put those events in the past and move on to the future, which includes a return to the jr. middleweight division.

PC: I take it you won't be sending any Christmas cards to Mississippi anytime soon.

IS: No, not at all, man. It's a shame too, man, because Guerrero is a good kid; he's respectful and I like the kid. We both went out there and laid it on the line and fought our hearts out. It's a shame some of the negativity overshadowing the fight man. My hats off to him and I wish him and his whole team the best of luck in the future.

PC: I think the scores definitely took away how great the fight actually was.

IS: Yeah. It was a great fight. I told people, and I think I told you earlier in my camp, that I was having one of the best camps of my career and it was going to be my best performance. I felt I did enough. I felt we controlled the earlier part of the fight, he controlled the middle couple of rounds, maybe the 4th through 6 ½, and then I came back strong in 7, 8, 9 and 10. It was just one of those fights that had all of the drama. It was a really good fight; a great fight.

PC: How were you scoring the fight in your head? I had you winning by 2 points, with the 1 point deduction for low blows. How did you have it?

IS: I was very frustrated, man, because I've heard the stories of Prize Fight Promotions being based out there in Mississippi and I had heard the stories of Randy Phillips refereeing most of their fights and I kinda just ignored it. I just wanted to go out there and put on a good fight. If you worry about that stuff, then you're already defeated. It was hard for me to score. I mean, I thought I did enough, especially with the knockdown, but it was hard for me to score because Randy Phillips was over-officiating. Especially in the middle of the fight, to go over and talk to the promoter, at that time, I thought that one of us was cut. I was like, "Ah man, who's cut?" I thought it was an accidental headbutt. When he stopped the fight in the height of action to talk to Brian Young, I was like, "This guy kidding me?"  And then, one minute later, he takes a point. That is so questionable.

For a ref to officiate all of the fights...he never came back there and addresses me or the other camp because he's out doing all of the fights. He never determined what a low blow is or what's not. The referee usually says, "These trunks are kind of high or these or good." A lot of those shots were hitting him right on his belt line; right on his name. Some went low, I'm not going to deny that, but Guerrero hit me low a couple of times. Let us fight man. Don't over-ref the fight. If you watch the tape, he was zeroed in on every body shot I threw. The guy was 2 feet from both of us. One time, I threw a right hand and it grazed his shoulder. The guy was so close to us. The guy that scored the fight 97-91 never needs to judge a fight ever again. This is the stuff that happens in boxing and it's unfortunate when you get two guys that go out there and lay it on the line. I can hold my head high and be proud of that fight and be proud of what I put together at 160 pounds. I'm not upset at all and I have the utmost respect for Fernando Guerrero and I hope the best for him. We put on a terrific fight; it's just Prize Fight and Randy Phillips was just bad business.

PC: The commentators said that Phillips not only was the third man in the ring for the televised fights, but every fight on the card. Would you have preferred a fresher guy to ref your fight?

IS: Yeah I would, man, because the commission kept coming back there asking if I was wrapped and was I ready to wrap. I was like, "No, not yet. Give me 20 minutes." I was watching the Porter fight and got wrapped up in it. But I was wondering where the ref was. Every fight, and especially big fights, the ref comes back there and addresses you and tells you what he thinks is fair. All of these refs are different. Joe Cortez refs different from Kenny Bayless. Kenny Bayless refs different than Jay Nady. That's just how it is; the refs are different. So when I didn't see him, I thought it was strange. I'm serious though, I literally threw one right hand and it grazed his shoulder before it even got to Guerrero because he was so close. He kept looking at me and I didn't even know that until I watched the tape and it's like, "Dude, just ref the fight." He over-did it. It was a minor championship fight, you got 2 guys that's going to lay it on the line and people are going to get their money's worth. That's all I'm about now. I just want to be in good, crowd-pleasing fights now and give the fans what they want, mixed with my defense. We went out there and did that. I would accept a draw, I would have accepted a 2-point swing for Guerrero, even though I thought I won, but I could have chalked it up to human error, you know? But for someone to score that fight 97-91, man, he gave me 1 round and that is absolutely uncalled for.

PC: Ironically, the same judge that scored your fight 97-91 scored Shawn Porter-Ray Robinson 98-91 and that was a close, but great fight. When you heard the scores read to Porter's fight, did you feel you needed a knockout against Guerrero? Because Porter was a Prize Fight guy as well.

IS: I had my music on so I didn't even hear the scores when they read them; I wasn't really paying attention. I was just looking up to see if the fight was going to go the distance or not. I would just look up every now and then at the screen. From what I hear, it was a very contested fight and Robinson had made the fight close and then a lot of people thought Porter won, but definitely not by the scores that the judges rendered. It's a shame that boxing is getting this way. It's so many bad decisions now and it's a shame. You have guys that leave their families and put their all into it and they lay it on the line on fight night. These fights take so much out of our bodies and so much mentally and to have a judge score a fight how they scored Robinson and my fight is just unfortunate. It puts a black eye on our sport. I received so many calls and so many messages on Facebook and Twitter saying that I won the fight. If Brian Young and those guys can look in the mirror and be proud of the job that they did, then God bless them. I can hold my head high and look in the mirror and say, "I know I won that fight." My kids can look at me and say I won the fight, which they did when I got back. I feel like when we go to 154 pounds, there are going to be some good fights there for us.

PC: Is there anybody in particular that you want to fight at junior middleweight and what can the fans expect from you at that weight class?

IS: Aw man, they can expect the same explosiveness, body punching and defense mixed with offense. I told people that I have one of the best chins in the game and I have proved that at 147, 154 and 160. I'm fighting young lions to prove it too. The 160-pound weight class is open. There is no one dominating that weight class. It's not like Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor 4 or 5 years ago. I'm fighting these young lions and giving them all they can handle and these are the guys who are supposed to be the future of the division and I'm doing it at a weight that I'm not even comfortable at. I can make 54. I was 57 the week before the fight. They can expect for me to be the same way; explosive and putting on good fights. I will fight anybody at 154 pounds; anyone that Lou and DBE sees fit. I'm all about putting on good fights.

PC: Best of luck to you Ishe. Give me something in closing.

IS: I want to thank the fans and thank God for allowing both me and Fernando to come out of that fight safe; it was a very grueling fight. I also want to thank the guys for supporting me and keeping it classy and respectful and putting the blame where it belongs. It doesn't belong on Guerrero because he's a good guy. I wish him much success in the future. I'm looking to do great things at 154 pounds man. I'm really excited.