By Terence Dooley
Paul Smith made some bold statements here on BoxingScene last week in relation to his March 13th super-middleweight title defence against fellow Liverpudlian Tony Dodson. Smith meets Dodson at the ECHO Arena, Liverpool, where Smith relieved Tony Quigley of the title that Quigley had won by defeating Dodson in the final round of their vacant title fight last March. There is a lot of Liverpudlian pride at stake in this round robin; Dodson read Smith’s comments on this site, picked up the phone, and put his side of the story across.
Firstly, Tony believes that Smith, 27, did not cherry pick this fight and that Paul had no choice but to take on the 29-year-old, two-time British champion. “I wanted to make a few references to some of the stuff he is saying about me on your site,” declared Dodson.
“See this where he says ‘I chose Dodson’, well that is a load of crap. He has been told he has to fight me because it is the only fight Frank Warren can do (for him) without it going tits up, but little does he know that it is going to go tits up for him.”
“Paul has made the biggest mistake in his whole life”, vowed Dodson, “the guy is made for me. I can show you a text message where he says I ‘can rant and rave as much as I like but I’m not getting the fight’. I sent him a text a day after the [Quigley] fight and, as I said at the press conference for this one, I might have been a bit too enthusiastic about wanting to have the fight but I watched the fight with him and Quigley and thought, ‘I want some of that’. So I put the text out to him. Paul replied with, ‘The blood isn’t even dry on my eye yet, this stinks of desperation’ – the cheeky little bastard.”
Dodson rallied from a second round knockdown to out-box and out-bang Quigley before getting caught in the final stanza. Tony believes that blood, along with challenges from rival fighters, comes with the territory.
“I am not arsed about whether or not he had blood on his eye,” said Dodson. “What type of fighter complains about a little cut that takes about two stitches to close? I’ve had cuts to my head that took eighteen stitches and I didn’t howl about it like a little girl.”
Indeed, Tony’s heart has now turned to stone as far as Smith is concerned, he was reluctant to even acknowledge Smith’s split decision win over Quigley. “He’s not really a champion is he because Quigley beat him in my eyes, and I absolutely battered Quigley for most of our fight,” revealed Dodson.
“He’s going on to you guys about me getting hit on the back of my head [against Quigley] and me mouthing out about deserving this and that when I got knocked out by Quigley – I did not get knocked out as the fight was stopped by the referee. Then he said that it doesn’t matter if I was ahead on points or that Quigley got lucky - this guy is trying to convince himself.
“Quigley did not knock me out. I went down on one knee. Then he says, ‘Quigley dropped Dodson when he was fresher earlier in the fight’, he didn’t drop me, he hit me on the back of the head, rewind the tape and have a look. The shot was on the back of the head and the force of it put me down but I did not go down hurt.
“Then he says that if ‘talking was the name of the game Dodson’d be a world champion but he got knocked out by the light-middleweight [Quigley] that I beat’. I didn’t get knocked out! I agree with some of what he is saying, when you go down you go down, but I never complained in the ring, I just got on with it. In fact, I didn’t just get on with it; from the third to the twelfth round I won every round. I threw more punches in those rounds than Paul’s ever thrown in a full twelve round fight.”
The backdrop to the Quigley fight was as fraught as the rest of Tony’s storied career, Dodson had prepared for Brian Magee only for an injury to force the Northern Irish boxer to withdraw, in stepped Quigley, who was inspired by the occasion and upped his game as a result. Dodson, conversely, feels that the change of opponent did him no favours.
“I prepared for a southpaw for that fight, people don’t give me credit for that, as all my training was done for Magee and I had to change it two weeks before the fight. Obviously that affected my performance. If that’s what I can do after changing two weeks out then imagine what I’ll do to Paul in this fight,” stormed Dodson.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like Tony and anyone who could take the punishment that I dished out deserves a medal. Me and Tony Quigley have become good friends. I respect the kid and he’s got the best chin in British boxing. He had a lucky thirty seconds, and that is all there is to it, but I was surprised by how good his chin was!”
On Smith, Tony stated that he had long viewed Paul as a friend and believes that the war of words began after Smith took him the wrong way during a radio interview. “This is the thing, I’m good friends with his dad, with his family, and up until not too long ago I was good friends with him,” revealed Dodson.
“This all started when I was invited onto a radio show after Paul was nominated to fight for the WBA Inter-Continental title in my weight division. Paul was coming off a loss to Steve Bendall, who is not good enough to lace my boots, so I didn’t know how Paul could say he’s justified for a shot at a belt that puts you in the top ten in the world, surely he’s not that naïve?
“There is no way you should get beat at middleweight and then even try to justify fighting for a belt that gets you a top ten ranking at the higher weight. So I said in the interview that I wasn’t sure how they could justify it and I wouldn’t say that Paul deserved it or didn’t deserve it. So I said, ‘He is a friend, a Scouser and good luck to him’ - that is all I said. He then and said he’d beat me and Quigley on the same night. So the gloves are off. Paul disrespected me and my words after I had wished him luck and called him my friend. After reading the shit he’s said about me I no longer see him as a friend - he’s an enemy.”
Ironically, Smith had sparred with Dodson prior to Tony’s British and Commonwealth title showdown with current WBC king Carl Froch, which, in Tony’s eyes, made Smith’s claim that Dodson had ‘swallowed’ that fight all the more cutting. “Paul helped me prepare for the Froch fight,” revealed Dodson.
“The only reason he was at that fight was to come and support me. He said I swallowed it. The guy has not been in with a world-class fighter in his career. One of the only guys with any quality he’s been in with is Steve Bendall, and he got beat by him! Who is he trying to kid?
“Paul is going to feel what it is like to be hit by a full on super-middleweight puncher. I made Froch look small at the weight and Paul’ll know when he gets hit by me. I’m solid at the weight and I’ve been working on being harder and faster at the weight. Smith will be in with a full-blown super-middleweight who doesn’t like him, and wants to hurt him.
“My fight with Carl was nip-and-tuck, and then it ended suddenly in round three. I’m one of the few people up to that point who made Froch lose a round. The shot (to the body) didn’t hurt me, it just took the wind out of me and I couldn’t get my breath. Look at the shot he hit me with before that, an uppercut that came from the ground and hit me on the chin, and I didn’t even flinch – Smith doesn’t hit as hard as Carl can hit.”
Dodson has forced 12 stoppages in his 24 wins (five defeats and a draw making up the ledger); he believes that his naturally heavy hands will come into play on the night. “Ask Paul about my power come March the 13th – he’ll give you the answer,” he said when asked if he has the equaliser in this one.
“Look, Paul is lazy. I know what he does in the gym and have seen him go through his sessions. I don’t care if he jets off to the best training camp in the world. I don’t give a toss, let him talk the shit he talks on your website. That is the talk of a man looking to give himself confidence so let him and build himself up.
“People on the street used to say, ‘You’ll smash that Smith up’, now they’ve been saying he won’t live with me after the way he fought in the Quigley fight. Tony bullied Paul until he got tired in the tenth round. Quigley couldn’t handle me at all until the last round. That Quigley fight was the type of war that Smith wishes he was in.”
Dobson campaigned at 175lb as an amateur, at 6’½’’ he is tall for a 168lber, boiling down to the championship limit must be a hard grind. Tony, however, believes that his dedication to the sport shines through in his ability to make the poundage. It was also manifested in his remarkable comeback from a career-threatening car crash. Tony has battled through injury, inactivity and had a few rough in-ring patches during his time in the sport; he believes that his faith and dedication reaps its own rewards.
“I stepped down in weight when I turned pro,” stated Dodson. “I’m not some lazy fucker who moves up because he won’t put the work in the gym or doesn’t want to have hard fights. Look at who is operating at middleweight and you’ll see why Paul moved up.”
Finally, Dodson predicted two things for this upcoming fight: that the crowd will be there to support him and that Smith is going to lose his title in his first defence. “The crowd that turned up for his [Smith’s] last fight thought they were gonna get another war like my one with Quigley so they showed up for a bit of that,” laughed Dodson.
“Little did they know that I made the Quigley fight what it was. I’m the ‘Warrior’ and I put the shows on. Paul can say what he wants about my nickname. He’s gonna have to get in there and back his comments up, and I don’t think he can do it. I’ll win by any means necessary – I know how to deal with Paul and will better anything he does on the night.”
However, Dodson became a little bit philosophical about Smith as our interview wound down, revealing that his anger stems from the fact that the two boxers have helped one another out in the past. “This is what makes me laugh, Paul used to be such a nice kid,” sighed Dodson.
“I’d all the time in the world for Paul but in the past two or three years he’s not been the kid he was. He used to come into the Rotunda (gym) and I’d let him put my gloves on and stay and watch the sessions. Even when people didn’t want to let him in I’d let him past because he was my mate. I think he started turning and I don’t like the person he’s become. This might be a good thing because it’s made me want to take his head off.
“Paul Smith doesn’t mean the world to me; he is not my be all and end all. I’m interested in taking his WBO world ranking and then taking the WBO world title. Stieglitz is shit, he’s a robot, he may be strong but so am I. I’m also a much better boxer than I am a fighter, and I’m a very good fighter.”
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