If he beats John Ryder on Saturday night, Callum Smith will have a ticket in the Canelo lottery, but as Smith knows only too well, the chances of hitting the jackpot are negligible.
As WBA super-middleweight (and holder of The Ring’s belt), Smith might expect to be in contention for the biggest fights around, which for any middleweight, super-middleweight or light-heavyweight right now mean Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Some might even point out that they are both aligned with DAZN, supposedly easing the way to a clash. But Smith has been around boxing his entire life and knows that is not how it works.
“I’m in a line of about 50 people to get the Canelo fight,” Smith said. “If it happens, it happens, but it probably won’t.
“But I’m not in a division where there is only one fight, there are a lot of big ones and unifications. There are a lot of options, a lot of different fights, but none of them are certain. It’s down to Eddie (Hearn) to deliver. If I get through this, hopefully I will get a big one for the spring.”
Smith faces Ryder at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, the 29-year-old’s first fight in his home city since he beat Erik Skogland at the same venue (then called the Echo Arena) in 2017 in his opening bout in the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS). His three subsequent bouts have been on the road, in Nuremberg, Jeddah and New York.
“It’s been a while,” he said. “Being here for fight week is a bit different from being away. Liverpool has always been a good place for me. They are the people who supported me from day one, before anyone knew who I was. Fighting in front of my own fans as a world champion will be a big night for me.”
Smith had contemplated quitting the sport if he won the WBSS, but after beating George Groves in the final, he realised he had won a world title without having had a particularly tough fight.
“When I was in the tournament, I was thinking ‘if I win this, there is nothing left to do’,” Smith said. “I’d become a world champion, which was the goal I had always set myself, the tournament was very good financially, what was the point carrying on when I had achieved what I had wanted to.
“Once I had done it, it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t the hardest. I hadn’t had any wars, I didn’t have many miles on the clock and I thought, if I can achieve this now, what more can I achieve. It opened more doors to setting new goals for myself and if I had finished then, I would always have wondered how good I was.
“Could I keep it for a long time, could I unify it? I would have had a lot of questions unanswered for myself as well as trying to prove it to other people.
“Skogland was probably my toughest fight. When you turn pro you would think that if I got to 25-26 fights and was Ring champion, WBA champion, I’d probably expect a lot more ups and down, a few tough fights, some that could have gone different ways.
“I’ve got here and I haven’t had any fights like that, touch wood, they might be coming. I had a few fights that I expected to be tough but didn’t turn out that way. People have had a lot tougher ones to reach the stage I have. I do believe, though, that when I am in those kind of fights it will bring out the best of me.
“After New York in June, the plan was to get two more this year in September and December, but that didn’t work. But I have got a good team around me looking for the best fights and I am sure 2020 can be a big year.”
Smith is an overwhelming favourite to beat Ryder, although the Londoner has had a habit of upsetting the odds in a string of four-winning fights, most recently claiming the WBA’s interim title by stopping Bilal Akkawy in Las Vegas in May.
“He’s a good fighter and he is in good form,” Smith said. “When he has been given a chance he has risen to the occasion and this is the biggest occasion of his career.
“But I feel like I am at the top of my game and I feel the best version of me beats everyone in the division. I’m not overlooking John Ryder, he stands in the way of a great year for me. I lose at the weekend and everything we have talked about, all the big fights, goes away. He has got my full attention.”
One of the downsides of Smith winning the biggest fight of his life in Jeddah was that he did not really get a chance to celebrate properly.
So what is a post-fight victory party like in Saudi Arabia? “We had a few cans of Coke, some pizzas and that was that,” Smith said. “There wasn’t much celebrating.
“It’s a strange place. You hear there is no alcohol and you kind of think there will be some somewhere, but there just isn’t.
“It was kind of low key in fight week, which suited me, but looking back, a fight between me and George Groves deserved a better atmosphere, a better build-up and more of an occasion. But I went and got what I wanted.
“Becoming a world champion was more of a personal goal for myself rather than something to make me famous or be recognised.
“Underachieving is one of my biggest fears. It was a big weight off my shoulders when I became a world champion and regardless of what I achieve from now on, I have fulfilled the goal I set for myself.”