By Terence Dooley

Paul Smith had a nightmare end to 2010 when losing his British 168lb title to James DeGale at the ECHO Arena, Liverpool on December 11th.  Things got a whole lot worse for 'Smigga', an avid Liverpool follower, early in 2011 when he decided to join Joe Gallagher's Denton-based, CNP-sponsored gym – Gallagher is a die hard Manchester United fan and has revelled in United's procession towards a possible twelfth Premier league title.  Moreover, Smith is surrounded by belt holders, including younger brother Stephen, and finds himself playing catch up.  To top it all off, the 28-year-old was dismissed by a wannabe writer on a minor website over the weekend, an argument that spilled over into Smith's Twitter account.  It has been a rum few months for the likeable Liverpudlian.

Despite this, the 'Real Gone Kid' struck a cheerful figure when I caught up with him at the gym on Monday afternoon; he trained in these same premises when Billy Graham's Phoenix Camp operated out of Kerry Kayes's Betta Bodies.  “It is sound, I'm enjoying it,” confirmed Smith. 

“There's a lot of hard graft but everything you do makes sense and you feel you're working towards something.  I trust Joe a lot and am just doing what he says – I'm feeling better already.  It is getting me back to where I started, getting back to basics and feeling how did when I was an amateur, when I loved boxing just for the sake of it not because it is a job or a chore.  It is helping me a lot mentally.”

Smith won the British super-middleweight belt via a bruising decision win over Tony Quigley in October 2009, he defended it courtesy of a bloody points win over Tony Dodson last March before succumbing to DeGale in nine rounds.  Paul, though, had toyed with the idea of relocating prior to the triumph over Quigley.

He said, “I thought about moving beforehand.  The defeat to DeGale just brought it into focus.  It is not a blame game.  I put in an awful performance last time.  But performance is down to preparation and the preparation was never right.  I was thinking about moving for long time.

“I spoke to my dad and missus about moving just before Quigley.  I came home from training about four weeks before the fight and said to my missus that I wanted to come and join Joe but thought that it was too close to the night.  Then I won the belt and you don't really want to move on the back of that.  But that is how close I came to doing it before now.  I'd had an argument with [former coach] Georgie [Vaughan] that day, it was totally unneeded and unnecessary, things just weren't right.  I knew that for sure after the DeGale loss.”

Smith's epic commute down the East Lancs is made easier by the fact that he lives outside the centre of Liverpool; he also feels that his hometown fans respect the reasons behind his move.

“It is just that the best fighters are here and the move was right for me.  When I first turned pro Manchester was buzzing, then in the middle of all that it died off a little bit and Liverpool built things up a bit but now a lot of fighters like Matt Macklin and Martin Murray are coming to train in Manchester again,” insisted Smith.

Macklin is still the spiritual EBU middleweight boss, John Murray holds the lightweight version of the title, Anthony Crolla is the current British lightweight ruler, leaving Paul, Joe Murray, Mark Heffron and new addition Callum Johnson as the odd ones out.  Smith believes that hearing Murray, Crolla and Macklin discuss potential title fights has helped hone his own hunger.

“Course, yeah, that is what I'm training for,” he said when asked if he wants to join the gym's other title holders.  “I was the only fighter in my old gym with a belt at one point and now I've come here and there's only me and Joe Murray without belts, the other lads are just starting out but I'm sure Joe will get a title soon so I've got to pull my finger out and get a belt just to keep up in the banter stakes.”

Smith's grit took him to the Lonsdale strap, he was fighting an uphill task from the beginning at the higher poundage, a move back down to middleweight could help unlock his potential.

“Joe told me that he was behind me whatever I wanted to do.  I think everyone could see that I was a middleweight but you don't want to admit to yourself.  I had a Lonsdale belt and was holding my own with super-middles but there is holding your own and there is excelling.  I think the move down to middle, with the right preparation and attitude, will allow me to excel,” says Smith.

“All that was getting me through at super-middle was my grit and my unwillingness to lose, that reflected in the performances – I was going in to win any way possible and just get the job done.  I was messy against Quigley.  I got cut against Dodson so everything went out the window.  There was no game plan at all for DeGale, it was just basically attack and try to knock him out.  I just tried to blag it, stay with him early before trying to take the middle rounds and stop him late.

“I was surprised by his awkwardness.  He wasn't a big puncher or super fast compared to some lads I've sparred with and fought in the past, David Banks was quicker.  He is good, there is no denying it, but he's not that big a puncher.  The referee [Howard Foster] didn't do me any favours with the stoppage but I can't argue with it, what is done is done.  James has certainly got ability and will do a number on George Groves.  I hope he goes onto do big things, good luck to him.”

As mentioned above, Smith has attracted the attention of bloggers, posters, tweeters and self-declared “boxing journalists”.  There have been a few 'Where is Paul Smith' threads on Britain's major forums.  People posted messages of support as well as constructive criticism, with one or two fans taking it a bit too far when voicing their opinions.  Use of social media tools is a double-edged sword for boxers.  Fighters have always been the most approachable of sportsmen and women.  A few of them embraced the world of forums, tweets and Facebook, Smith included, only to become jaded after fielding endless attempts to goad them into online slanging matches. 

Sure, Smith has never been shy in the past but there is the distinct sense that a small minority of virtual critics post their missives in order to draw attention.  Last weekend's blog entry in which the “writer” went at Paul on a personal level before carrying his ire over to younger brother Stephen is an example of this trend.  Smith, whilst admitting that he was forthright in his own forum posts, feels that fighters can become bogged down in the Internet, their accounts are flooded with PMs from fans demanding a portion of their online time.  

“I haven't even looked at the forums lately,” he said.  “People expect you to read it all and take it onboard but a lot of these critics aren't representative of the genuine fans.  It is like those food critics who go into a restaurant purely to say that the food is shit.  They just want something to talk about and are waiting for you to fall on your face so they can say, 'You said this and you said that'.

“What do people expect you to say before a fight, that you think you're going to lose?  I had every  intention of winning the DeGale fight.  I thought I'd be too strong.  I'm not the first fighter to say he'll win a fight and then lose.  I gave everything I had, the performance was shit, the preparation was shit but I did everything I could.

“Some people just like to criticise, they seem to take enjoyment from doing it but the fact that you're up there fighting in the first place is something that deserves a pat on the back.  People should be a bit more leery of giving too much stick after a fight.  I took him (DeGale) further than he's ever been in his career.  People said he'd knock me out but I was stopped on my feet.

“It is hardly the crime of a century, a boxer saying he is going to win.  I've had it before.  You get some PMs on the forums or Twitter.  They're nice at first, calling you 'Champ' and the rest, but if you don't reply to them straight away it turns to 'You're shit and you got what you deserved against DeGale'.  I don't understand why they are phoney with you when they first approach you, why not just admit that they don't like you.

“I'll always have to live with that DeGale defeat and with people sending me messages like 'You got fucked by DeGale'.  But I don't need to hear it all the time.  I'm not a shit boxer, I've won 29 fights.  We all talk before a fight but I'd never try to embarrass an opponent by saying they can't fight or they're a shit boxer.  Boxers have respect for each other even when we don't get on because we go out there and do it.”

As Peter Mannion put it in The Thick Of It, “Have you ever tried googling your own name?  It is like opening the door to a room where everyone tells you how shit you are.”  Smith, however, was philosophical over the whole thing, acknowledging the right to voice an opinion whilst pointing out that for every genuine forum post you can point out one or two purely negative, unconstrained jibes.  It is par for the course when you are involved in a sport that requires bold pre-fight talk.

Speaking of which, Smith is due to return on May 21, his opponent has not been announced yet here I am moving straight from the issue of the fallout from fighters talking up their chances to asking him if he would fancy a fight with Martin Murray.  Barker and Macklin have other fish to fry, Murray and Smith are both well regarded domestically, why not put them together with the Lonsdale belt at stake?

“Hopefully that does happen.  I think that as a former British champion I will get a good ranking – and I'm not trying to be big headed or do the board's work for them – so why not have that one?  It would be a hard test for us both and a logical step for the British title,” he concurred.

“A fight with me and Macklin is never going to happen, we're friends so it wouldn't happen even if we weren't based in the same gym.  I'd love to fight Barker, he's a good kid and is hopefully about to go on and reclaim the European title so it would be great if I could get that fight.  I really don't mind, I just want a title shot.

“I was gutted to lose the belt up at super-middle because it was always a dream of mine to win the title, defend it and win the Lonsdale outright.  I won't have to rely on grit (at 160lb).  I can get on with my game, think about what I'm doing and not what my what rivals are doing.  I'll have my strength back at middle, my punching power will come and I can have more of an effect.”

Smith laughed, aware that a few people will jump on his words.  “Because you hear of these people writing you off, you get to the stage where you don't really want to say what you intend to do, you just want to go out there and show people,” he mused. 

“I'm telling the same old story as any other fighter.  I've seen people saying the same things in my position in the past and you think 'Yeah, but you just lost your last fight'.  You're only as good as your last fight and mine was a loss.  I'll get back to winning ways before talking about titles and giving my opinions on opponents.  I'll put in a good performance to quieten down a few idiots.  I have never gone out thinking I'll prove people wrong or shut them up but I'm extra focussed for this next one.”

Feeling a little mischievous, I decided to go all in with the forum stuff.  “That Joe Gallagher, he gets a bit of stick online,” I argued, reminding Smith that one or two posters have stated that his new mentor does not have the time to give each fighter one-on-one coaching.

“Are you joking me!” joked Smith.  “I don't know where Joe gets the time.  He's never off the phone to me, he's always here in the gym looking at opponents and fights.  I get a lot more time with Joe than I got in the States with Buddy McGirt and that was even with my own allocated hour with Buddy.  I will have even more time with him as the fight comes up.

“The people who say stuff like that are those people on forums who've never stepped foot in a professional gym.  They should come down to a pro game to watch a session and see how things work instead of just going to an amateur gym where a mate of theirs is hitting a few bags for a few rounds while they're taking photos.  Come to a proper gym before talking about Joe in relation to these other trainers, they'll see a big difference.”

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