Having taken so long to become a world champion Callum Smith (26-0, 19 KOs) has very convincing reasons why he won’t allow complacency to trip him up when he fights John Ryder on Saturday night.

Smith, the WBA Super Middleweight champion, will make the second defence of his title in his home city of Liverpool against his mandatory challenger knowing that he is a heavy favourite to retain his championship against one of the division’s in-form fighters who made the move from middleweight to super middle over eighteen months ago.

In January 2017 Smith was made mandatory challenger for Badou Jack’s WBC belt only to see Jack move up to Light Heavyweight. After much back and forth about when and where the vacant title fight between Smith and Anthony Dirrell would take place, Smith moved on and took his place in the World Boxing Super Series where he became world champion by overwhelming George Groves in Saudia Arabia last year.

Smith knows what it is like to sit and wait for your shot at a world title so the fear of going back to the status of challenger is reason enough for Smith to take the threat of Ryder and any other challenger very seriously.

“Exactly and that was my mentality before the Groves fight,” Smith cited when Boxing Scene suggested that he may have even greater motivation to remain at the top having had to sit tight and wait for his own turn initially.

“I’d waited so long for this one shot, if I didn’t take it there was no guarantee I would get another one because that one was so hard to get.

“At the minute I’m world champion and I’m enjoying it, being the best in the world but if I lose I just become another challenger. I’ll be just someone else chasing another world title shot and there’s a massive queue with a lot of top fighters. And I don’t think many (champions) are going to pick a six foot three super middleweight as a voluntary so I’d have to get the mandatory again. I like the position I’m in so there’s a lot of motivation to keep a hold of the belt. There’s no complacency in me. John Ryder is coming to give the fight of his life. I’m bang up for it.”

Smith’s own fear factor of going back to square one manifests itself into motivation that not many other champions speak about.  Not only would a loss send him down the rankings but it would flatten any chance of the marquee fights that could potentially happen for him in 2020. His mentality hasn’t been born from his win against Groves. Smith has always looked to set the bar high for himself right from when he turned professional and aspired to be where he is now, which is the best in the world at 168lbs.

“Everyone that fights me, it’s their big opportunity so they’re going to perform a bit better. So I’m probably getting the best version of everyone I’ve faced. I’ve got to be switched on. I can’t be complacent. Everyone has wrote John Ryder off and thinks this is an easy defence but I know he’s a good fighter, I’ve seen him up close many times and I’m prepared.”

There was a period from December 2016 to February 2018 where some were doubting Smith’s credentials as a future world champion after uninspiring performances against Luke Blackledge, Erik Skoglund and his World Boxing Super Series semi-final opponent Nieky Holzken who came in at late notice to replace original opponent Jurgen Brahmer.

The better the opponent and the bigger the occasion means the better the performance we see from Smith. It’s an old cliche but Smith has always delivered the goods when, on paper, there was a possibility that he might lose. And now, as world champion, every event headlined by Callum Smith is a big deal. The onus is on him to deliver, to keep impressing as he did against Groves and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the first defence of his title which took place at Madison Square Garden on a wild night which witnessed Andy Ruiz provide boxing’s upset of the year so far.

“It was brilliant,” Smith said of the experience of fighting at The Garden. “It’s such an iconic fight venue and you never know if you’re going to get the opportunity to fight there, so when it was presented to me I took it with both hands. I was just more pleased with the fact I won and performed the way I wanted to do and everything seemed to go right for me. It was a crazy show to be honest. There was a lot of ups and downs but in terms of my performance I was pleased with how it went and there weren’t many other places I’d have liked to have had the first defence of my world title. Madison Square Garden was a massive box ticked and it’s an experience I’ll always remember.”

After years of hard work and patience Smith is revelling in his status as champion and is enjoying the recognition that has come his way along with it. The long talked about potential of “Mundo”, the youngest of the fighting Smith brothers, has finally been fulfilled. The learning fights are long gone, every fight now, for the foreseeable future, is for his world title.

“These are the fights I’ve always wanted,” he said.

And now he is calling on his promoter Eddie Hearn to get him the biggest ones possible for next year. The three other champions in his division; Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant and David Benavidez are all realistic possibilities by the time Smith’s much talked about defence at Anfield next summer comes around.

“He [Hearn] wants to put me in the biggest fight possible so the pressure’s on him to deliver,” Smith stated.

“I’d like to have a chance to unify. I’d like to fight one of the other champions. Winning the world title was always the goal but having achieved that there are three other world champions, so I’d like to fight one of them. Three good, unbeaten fighters and I think any fight between ourselves would be an exciting fight. They are what I want next year. They are the fights that motivate me, where there is a chance I might lose, and they bring out the best in me. They are what I want next year. If I can have one of them I’ll be happy and after that I’ll gladly move up to Light Heavyweight but I don’t plan on leaving everything behind while there are still good fights out there for me at Super Middleweight.”

There has often been amazement at how Smith and his frame manage to fit into 168lbs. He has heard the questions himself and has been asked about it as long as he can remember. The cynic in some might wonder if that will ever be used as a reason should his unbeaten record and world title reign come to an end. Fighters are no strangers to using such an excuse and for some it is legitimate, but then we wonder why wasn’t this it remedied sooner if it was taking such a toll on your body!

Lee Selby, for example, struggled to make the Featherweight limit during his time as IBF champion but losing his title to Josh Warrington freed him of the strain and allowed him to enjoy life as a fighter once again.

Smith insists, as he always has done, that making the 168lbs limit is not a struggle and puts that down to living a good, healthy life while maintaining his dedication to the sport.

“No fighter is going to say I’m dead at the weight because no-one wants to show weakness or give the opponent anything but I’ve been around boxing for a long time. I’ve been in a busy gym full of top fighters and I’ve seen when someone makes the weight but it takes a little bit from them and it affects their performance. The minute I feel it’s affecting my performances I’d gladly move up and close the book on 168 where I have won a world title and been considered number one in the world.”