Paul Smith (boxer)

Paul Smith
Smith in 2011
Statistics
Real name	Paul Smith Jr.
Nickname(s)	Real Gone Kid
Rated at	Middleweight Super-middleweight
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Reach	72 in (183 cm)
Nationality	British
Born	(1982-10-06) 6 October 1982 Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	44
Wins	38
Wins by KO	22
Losses	6
Medal record Representing  England Men's amateur boxing Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Light-middleweight

Paul Smith Jr. (born 6 October 1982) is a British professional boxer. He held the English middleweight title in 2008; the British super-middleweight title twice, from 2009 to 2010, and 2013 to 2014; and has twice challenged for the WBO super-middleweight title, in 2014 and 2015.

Boxing career

Amateur career

Smith started boxing at age nine with the Rotunda amateur boxing club and fought in South Africa, Uzbekistan, and Denmark representing England. He comes from a family of boxers and he and his brothers (Stephen, Liam, and Callum) became the first group of siblings to all win ABA titles.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Paul won silver medals for his country in the 2001 Copenhagen Cup^[6] and 2002 Commonwealth Games, losing to Jean Pascal by two points;^[7] Smith was then picked up by Frank Warren and turned professional.

Professional career

Smith's career has featured many bouts held mainly in the UK, Germany and the USA. He has faced Andre Ward and Arthur Abraham for the WBO Super-Middleweight title twice. The first was a controversial decision.

On 10 March 2007, he KO'd the Belgian, Alexander Polizzi in Liverpool, winning the WBU international middleweight title in the eighth round.

On 20 March 2007, Smith took part in boxing's answer to Golf's Ryder Cup fighting American Jonathan Reid; the Nashville, Tennessee resident lost to Smith on a technical knockout.

On 4 September 2007, Smith joined nine other boxing hopefuls as members of season three of The Contender. Smith fought rival David Banks from Portland, Oregon, and ended with a win for Smith by split-decision. However, since Smith had the lowest point total out of the remaining boxers, he was disqualified. The victory over David Banks was fought in Pasadena, California and was broadcast on ESPN and ITV; Ray Leonard said Smith let his anger take away from his ability. Smith was left with two cuts, one on his nose and another around his eye; this meant he was medically unfit to continue the contest regardless of performance.

Smith returned to England and defeated Cello Renda to win the vacant English middleweight title. He lost the title in his very next fight against Steven Bendall on 21 June 2008 in Birmingham, England, on a much contested points decision.^[8]

Tony Quigley

On 30 October 2009, Smith challenged Tony Quigley for the British super-middleweight title in Liverpool's Echo Arena. Quigley was the holder of the British title after defeating Tony Dodson only months earlier at the same venue. The fight was a tight affair with Smith eventually winning via split decision over 12 rounds thus crowning him the new British super-middleweight title holder.

Tony Dodson

Smith's first defense of his title came in his thirtieth professional contest at the Echo Arena, Liverpool on 12 March 2010, against Tony Dodson. Smith won again, this time via a unanimous 12 round decision.

James DeGale

Smith boxed Beijing 2008 gold medalist, James DeGale at the Echo Arena, Liverpool on 11 December 2012, the fight was stopped in the ninth round, causing Smith to lose his British super-middleweight title.

George Groves

Smith, once again challenged for the British title against George Groves, after two first round stoppage wins since his defeat to James DeGale. The bout took place in Groves' native London at the Wembley Arena on 5 November 2011. Smith won the opening round on all three judges cards and landed a hard shot on Groves towards the end of the round. One minute into the second round, however, a lead overhand right from Groves to Smith's jaw floored him. Smith was able to beat the count only to be dropped again, forcing the referee to halt the contest.

Arthur Abraham

On the 27th September 2014, Smith fought WBO Super-Middleweight title holder Arthur Abraham in Kiel, Germany. Despite arguably outworking Abraham for the full 12 rounds, the judges ruled in the Armenian's favour by scores of 119–109, 117–111 and 117–110. Many ringside observers saw the fight as being far closer than the judges ruled it and Smith's promoter Eddie Hearn labelled the judges scores a "disgrace."^[9]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
44	Win	38–6	Daniel Regi	TKO	5 (6), 2:16	10 Sep 2016	The O2 Arena, London, England
43	Win	37–6	Bartlomiej Grafka	PTS	6	29 May 2016	Goodison Park, Liverpool, England
42	Win	36–6	Bronislav Kubin	TKO	3 (6), 0:25	7 May 2016	Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
41	Loss	35–6	Andre Ward	TKO	9 (12), 1:46	20 Jun 2015	Oracle Arena, Oakland, California, US
40	Loss	35–5	Arthur Abraham	UD	12	21 Feb 2015	O2 World Arena, Berlin, Germany	For WBO super-middleweight title
39	Loss	35–4	Arthur Abraham	UD	12	27 Sep 2014	Sparkassen-Arena, Kiel, Germany	For WBO super-middleweight title
38	Win	35–3	David Sarabia	TKO	2 (8), 1:17	17 May 2014	Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales
37	Win	34–3	Jamie Ambler	PTS	6	14 Dec 2013	ExCeL, London, England
36	Win	33–3	Tony Dodson	TKO	6 (12), 2:31	29 Jun 2013	Bolton Arena, Bolton, England	Won vacant British super-middleweight title
35	Win	32–3	Tommy Tolan	RTD	4 (6), 3:00	11 Sep 2012	Olympia, Liverpool, England
34	Loss	31–3	George Groves	TKO	2 (12), 1:18	11 May 2011	Wembley Arena, London, England	For British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles
33	Win	31–2	Paul Samuels	TKO	1 (8), 2:22	17 Sep 2011	Olympia, Liverpool, England
32	Win	30–2	Jozsef Matolcsi	KO	1 (8), 0:58	21 May 2011	The O2 Arena, London, England
31	Loss	29–2	James DeGale	TKO	9 (12), 2:08	11 Dec 2010	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England	Lost British super-middleweight title
30	Win	29–1	Tony Dodson	UD	12	12 Mar 2010	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England	Retained British super-middleweight title
29	Win	28–1	Tony Quigley	SD	12	30 Oct 2009	Echo Arena, Liverpool, England	Won British super-middleweight title
28	Win	27–1	Michal Bilak	PTS	8	18 Jul 2009	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
27	Win	26–1	Rashid Matumla	TKO	2 (12), 2:35	14 Mar 2009	MEN Arena, Manchester, England	Won vacant WBA International super-middleweight title
26	Win	25–1	Ciaran Healy	PTS	6	12 Dec 2008	Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
25	Win	24–1	Danny Thornton	KO	6 (8), 2:50	9 Jun 2008	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
24	Loss	23–1	Steven Bendall	PTS	10	21 Jun 2008	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England	Lost English middleweight title
23	Win	23–0	Cello Renda	TKO	6 (10), 1:55	3 Aug 2008	The O2 Arena, London, England	Won vacant English middleweight title
22	Win	22–0	Francis Cheka	PTS	8	12 Aug 2007	Bolton Arena, Bolton, England
21	Win	21–0	David Banks	SD	5	10 Sep 2007	The Contender Arena, Los Angeles, California, US	Part of The Contender series 3
20	Win	20–0	Jonathan Reid	TKO	7 (8), 1:21	30 Mar 2007	Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England	Part of The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA
19	Win	19–0	Alexander Polizzi	TKO	8 (12)	3 Oct 2007	Liverpool Olympia
18	Win	18–0	Ryan Walls	TKO	4 (8), 2:48	18 Nov 2006	Newport Centre, Newport, Wales
17	Win	17–0	Dean Walker	TKO	3 (10), 2:49	14 Oct 2006	MEN Arena, Manchester, England	Won vacant British Central Area middleweight title
16	Win	16–0	Conroy McIntosh	PTS	8	6 Jan 2006	Metrodome, Barnsley, England
15	Win	15–0	Hussain Osman	TKO	4 (6), 2:00	3 Nov 2006	Newport Centre, Newport, Wales
14	Win	14–0	Simeon Cover	PTS	6	6 Mar 2005	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
13	Win	13–0	Rob Burton	KO	1 (6), 1:54	2 Nov 2005	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
12	Win	12–0	Howard Clarke	KO	1 (6), 2:11	17 Dec 2004	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
11	Win	11–0	Jason Collins	TKO	1 (6), 1:42	10 Jan 2004	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
10	Win	10–0	Ojay Abrahams	PTS	4	9 Oct 2004	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
9	Win	9–0	Steve Timms	TKO	1 (6), 2:57	6 Dec 2004	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
8	Win	8–0	Howard Clarke	PTS	4	4 Mar 2004	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
7	Win	7–0	Davy Jones	PTS	4	26 Feb 2004	Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
6	Win	6–0	Joel Ani	PTS	4	13 Dec 2003	MEN Arena, Manchester, England
5	Win	5–0	Mike Duffield	TKO	1 (4), 2:41	10 Feb 2003	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
4	Win	4–0	Patrick Cito	PTS	4	29 Aug 2003	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
3	Win	3–0	Silver Fox	TKO	2 (4), 2:40	20 Jun 2003	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, England
2	Win	2–0	Andrey Ivanov	TKO	2 (4), 1:00	8 May 2003	Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
1	Win	1–0	Howard Clarke	PTS	4	5 Apr 2003	MEN Arena, Manchester, England	Professional debut

Titles in boxing

Music career

As well as being a boxer, Smith is a resident DJ at the 'Society' nightclub in Liverpool.^[10] He co-wrote the Ultrabeat song "Better Than Life", with Mike Di Scala and has remixed the song "Falling Stars (Waiting For A Star To Fall)" by Sunset Strippers, also with Di Scala.^[11]

Personal life

Paul Smith comes from a family of professional boxers, which includes Stephen Smith, Liam Smith, and Callum Smith.^[12]

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Paul Smith from BoxRec