By Andrew Graves @andrewgravess
Liverpool boxing is absolutely booming at the moment! Flying the flag higher than anybody else would have to be the Smith's After this weekend breaking boxing records by having 3 of the Brothers carrying a British title and 1 of them the English belt.
Firstly the youngest of the brothers Callum who has been described as the "The best of the lot" Callum got things of to a bang for the Smith's Saturday night in Liverpool becoming the new English champion by stopping Patrick Mendy in the first round, Mendy was known for his durability and granite chin and got smashed by the 7-0 newcomer, in the process Callum wrote his own little bit of history by becoming the first British boxer ever to win 6 consecutive bouts in the first round.
Now on to the other Smith who fought on Saturday night Liam, if Liam would manage to win he would complete the set of all the brothers being champions simultaneously, however it would be no easy task as he would be coming up against the tough experienced champion Erik Ocheng, the challenger would struggle in the early rounds but found his feet mid way through the bout going from strength to strength eventually cruising to a unanimous points victory therefore becoming the new British champion.
Thirdly comes the smallest out of the 4, The current British Super Featherweight champion Stephen "Swifty" Smith. In 2011 Stephen suffered a major setback in his pro career losing both his British and Commonwealth titles to fellow British prospect Lee Selby via 8th round TKO. Smith would use this defeat as motivation going forward Smith would win his next 4 bouts earning him another shot at his old British title going head to head with Gary Buckland, Despite being a huge underdog the Scouser would land a beautifully timed ferocious uppercut square on the champions chin knocking him out cold shocking at large the boxing community who had once written him off to once again claim back his British title.
Last of all and certainly not least is the oldest and most experienced out of the bunch is Paul, Paul is a boxing veteran having 36 bouts with only 3 defeats all his loses coming against top level fighters in Steven Bendall, James Degale and world title challenger unbeaten George Groves. Smith is also known over the pond in America for his exploits on the UK vs USA contender series. Smith's latest bout was against fellow Liverpudlian Tony Dodson, where the fighters would do battle for the vacant British Super Middleweight title, Paul would come out the victor stopping Dodson in the 6th. Looking into the future the seasoned pro who has had some classic matchups is looking for European or World title opportunities to cement his position in British Boxing.
As a fellow Scouser I am so happy at the moment to see the amount of top level fighters the city of Liverpool has at its disposal. I also couldn't be prouder of all the Smith brothers and wish all of them good luck in the future as they pursue there exceptional boxing careers.
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