By Terence Dooley
Paul Smith puts his British super-middleweight title on line tonight against former champion Tony Dodson at the ECHO Arena, Liverpool in a fight that will settle local bragging rights and push the winner into a European title fight against current incumbent Brian Magee.
Smith, who won the title by defeating Tony Quigley via a split-decision last October, has settled into a Dickensian existence during his training camp, shuttling between his house and the gym.
“Only time I go to Liverpool is for the gym and back so I don’t know what the feeling is like around the city. I can tell you what the feeling is like in my gym, we are all flying and feel great about things,” revealed the 27-year-old when speaking with Boxingscene ahead of the Dodson showdown.
Brothers Liam and Stephen join Paul on the bill. Smith told me that the Liverpudlian trio will put family emotions to one side in order to ensure that they get a full house of wins for the Smith family.
“We try not to think about each other’s fights and have to be a little bit selfish until after our fights,” declared Smith. “They are on before me so that will get things going for my fight. They’ve got to do their own jobs first.”
Smith, 28-1 (15), believed he would knock out Tony Quigley but was cut early in the contest and had to grind out a win, carrying the final two rounds to take the decision; he is now wary about making predictions, preferring to let his fists do the talking come fight night.
“I don’t like making predictions, they almost never come in and you can look stupid,” admitted Smith. “I told you I’d knock Quigley out and genuinely felt that at the time, maybe it was a bit too much geeing myself up and too much belief in myself. I never caught him clean, the body shots didn’t land early, and he was very good at nullifying so the stoppage never came and I looked a bit stupid.
“Every fight is a learning fight and I know that I’ll catch him [Dodson] in this fight, as I know him from sparring him before he fought Carl Froch. His size and strength will go against him on the night. He’ll hit a brick wall when he comes at me. I’m ready for whatever he brings to me.”
Amir Khan’s move to Golden Boy Promotions has sparked a flurry of activity from promoter Frank Warren, Kevin Mitchell has been moved into a title fight against Michael Katsidis and Smith could be guided towards a world title shot before the year is out.
“A European and possible world title shot won’t play on my mind but, yeah, that could be the case,” confirmed Smith. “My next fight after this could be for a bigger title, though I’d love to squeeze another British defence in, so I know this fight is not the end of the road.
“I can’t be a hypocrite and say I’m not looking past this because I am looking to my next defence but I can honestly say that the only thing on my mind right now is Tony Dodson. You give a little sigh of relief (after you’ve won a fight) but then your first question is, ‘What’s next?’”
Dodson thrives of his reputation as a fearless warrior, the 29-year-old fighter believes that he is the naturally bigger man and has come through stiffer tests than Smith. Dodson, nicknamed ‘The Warrior’, once had to battle back from injuries suffered in a car crash; he believes that this inner-determination will prove too much for Smith.
Indeed, Dodson believes that the magnitude of the event will fuel him onto even greater heights. “This is the pinnacle for me, better than any fight I’ve taken part in, it is massive for me and Liverpool,” declared Dodson, who lost to Carl Froch by third round TKO in 2006.
“Frank [Warren] says it is pretty much sold out. This is ten-years overdue, especially for a big boxing city like Liverpool, we’ve been craving this type of fight for years. [Andy] Holligan-[Shea] Neary packing out Stanley Park in 1998 was the last time you saw a fight like this come and capture the imagination of the city. We are one of the major fight cities in the country and should have had somewhere to showcase our fighters. Frank is getting shows on at the ECHO Arena and packing the house out, they’ve come up trumps and it has turned out great,” enthused the 24-5-1 (12) fighter.
Sky Sports 1 and HD1 televise here in the UK from 10pm.
