By Keith Idec
Stephen A. Smith knows hardcore boxing fans are harsh, particularly when it comes to people perceived to be outsiders in this thing they love so passionately.
He isn’t the least bit intimidated.
Smith is certain he is fully prepared to prove the highly skeptical among them wrong when he works his first show as a boxing analyst Saturday night in Las Vegas. The polarizing ESPN personality will be part of promoter Bob Arum’s three-man ringside announcing team for the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas pay-per-view card at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center ($64.95-$69.95 in HD).
“I don’t think about it because I don’t care,” Smith told BoxingScene.com regarding inevitable criticism of his performance, fair or otherwise. “It’s my job to perform. I know when I’ve done a good job and when I haven’t. I hold myself to a very, very high standard. And if I’m not performing, they won’t beat me to admitting it. I’ll gladly admit it. I’ve gotta measure up to snuff. Brian Kenny [blow-by-blow announcer] and [expert analyst] Timothy Bradley are gonna do it. I’ve got to hold my own weight.
“But in terms of criticism, I put on my big-boy pants a long, long time ago. And you can’t sit around, worrying and being fearful of criticism and expect to succeed in this business. This is what we do. And more importantly, we’re in the business of holding other people accountable. So how dare any of us act like we can’t be held accountable when we don’t measure up to snuff? That’s always been my mentality – to be strong-willed, to have alligator skin and to be willing to be able to bounce back up if and whenever I fall. Just keep the falls to a minimum, and I think I’ve done a great job of that in my career. I’ve fallen a few times, but it ain’t often. And I succeed a lot more than I fail. And I intend to do so in this particular situation as well. And if I don’t, I don’t. But I’m telling you, I don’t plan on failure. I never have and I never will.”
Smith, a former newspaper reporter for the New York Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer, works across a table from HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman five days a week on ESPN’s “First Take.” Arum hired him, Kenny & Bradley because his promotional company, Top Rank Inc., is independently producing this pay-per-view card and thus cannot use HBO Sports’ announcing team of Jim Lampley, Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr.
Smith admits he is “nervous as hell” about this high-profile boxing assignment. Nevertheless, he is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s a passion of mine,” Smith said of boxing. “I don’t really consider it work. The only work that’s involved in this assignment for me is flying to Vegas. That’s it. Because I’ve gotta go through airport security, stand in line and stuff like that.
“But actually doing the fights, because I won’t just be doing the main event, I’ll be doing the last four fights, leading into the main event, it’s not even work to me. It’s a passion that I’ve had all my life. I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that I’d be allowed to do this. But I’m ecstatic. I can’t wait.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
