By Terence Dooley
Paul Smith is set to make the third defence of his Lonsdale belt against Dudley’s Darren McDermott. Promoter Frank Warren asked the BBBoC to allow Smith to make a voluntary defence of the title and the board have agreed to sanction the match. Smith, who took the title with a points win over Tony Quigley in October, defended his belt against Tony Dodson in March and had then hoped to fight Brian Magee for the European title only for negotiations to fall apart at the last minute, with both sides blaming the other for the non-fight.
The time and place of the Smith-McDermott scrap will be decided soon. Darren is 17-2-1 (9); his defeats came against Wayne Elcock and Darren Barker. McDermott was unlucky in the Elcock contest, a loss in the second round due to the BBBoC’s now-defunct injury-loss rule, but was soundly beaten by Barker down at 160lb, he has since bounced back with a points win over Danny Butler for the vacant English title.
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