Smoker and Kuzan has one small interaction at the end of Punk Hazard and nothing more.
"Smoker will be the one to defeat Kuzan."
Oda shows that Kuzan was a former apprentice of Garp just like Koby, builds up a possible Koby vs Kuzan fight after the battle at Hachinosu.
Smoker wasn't even with Garp and the others when they landed on Hachinosu.
"Koby isn't fighting Kuzan, it's still going to be Smoker"