By Terence Dooley
Liverpool’s Paul Smith makes his return to the ring at London’s O2 Arena on May 21st. Smith is heading back to down to middleweight in the wake of last December’s British 168lb title loss to James DeGale, who co-headlines the bill alongside George Groves – Juergen Braehmer’s WBO light-heavyweight title showdown with Nathan Cleverly is the other banner bout.
Smith’s ninth round reverse to ‘Chunky’ prompted a move from The Vaughan Camp to Joe Gallagher’s Denton-based, CNP-sponsored gym. Gallagher has always admired the 28-year-old, telling me that he was impressed with Smith’s decision to mingle with the Liverpudlian fans after losing the Lonsdale belt to DeGale.
“I saw Paul in the lobby after that fight. A lot of fighters who have just lost a big fight want to go home but Paul came down to face everyone. That spoke volumes about him as a fighter and as a man,” revealed Gallagher.
“Paul said to me, ‘If you are there with the public when you’re winning you have to be there when you’ve lost,’ and it was very big of him to do that after losing in his hometown. I remember Paul was always man enough to come through challenges when he was a kid and there’s still something there in him that makes me believe that he can come back from this.”
Liverpool boxing stalwarts Georgie and Danny Vaughan guided the ‘Real Gone Kid’ to British title wins over Tony Quigley and Tony Dodson; Paul has also worked with Buddy McGirt and Billy Graham. Ironically, the 29-2 (15) boxer prepared in the same disused Denton mill when Graham’s Phoenix Camp operated out of Kerry Kayes’s gym.
“Paul’s trained around the world with the likes of Billy Graham, Buddy McGirt and the Vaughans so him coming here is a massive compliment to me because he’s putting his career in my hands. Paul is trusting me to help him rebuild and come back – I won’t let him down,” pledged Gallagher.
“‘Smigga’ said he feels fitter midway through his training for this one than he did against DeGale. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen. He’s on the radar and all the gym’s attention is focussed on him and his May 21st fight.”
Gallagher believes that Smith needs to get back to basics if he is to move onto showdowns with Darren Barker or northwest rival Martin Murray. Consequently combination punching is the order of the day when the former English middleweight titlist enters the O2 ring.
“Billy has always said that Paul could hit hard but there’s no point having those big bombs if you can’t plant them. Paul needs to get back on his speed and boxing – just like [Matthew] Macklin did when he fought [Wayne] Elcock – to show people what made him a Commonwealth Games silver medallist as an amateur [in 2002].”
He added: “All the great world champions were great amateurs. You can’t go wrong with going back to basics every so often. Paul can do that. The best fighters in the world use an accumulation of punches. There’s no huge one-punch fighter around at the moment. It is all about putting bunches of shots out and landing the big one that way.”
Smith has been with Frank Warren since launching his paid career with a point’s win over Howard Clarke in 2003. Gallagher feels that this long partnership will prompt the promoter to propel the pugilist back into the title picture should he impress on the 21st.
“Let’s get him a win back at middleweight and see what opens up for him. There’s good fights out there for Paul and a lot more to come from if he gets back to his best,” he opined.
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