Callum Smith, Britain’s Best Boxer, Has a Date With a ‘Gorilla’ on Saturday

The best fighter in all of Great Britain will be in action on Saturday, defending his WBA 168-pound world title on his home turf in Liverpool. That’s Callum Smith (26-0, 19 KOs) who isn’t as well-known internationally as several other British boxers but has the highest placement of any U.K. boxer on a reputable pound-for-pound list.

There are five major pound-for-pound lists: The Ring, BWAA, Box Rec, ESPN, and TBRB (Transnational Boxing Rankings Board). Only Box Rec recognizes Smith on its PPV list. He clocks in at #7. But that’s three places higher than the only other British boxer to make the cut, namely Scotland’s Josh Taylor who moved into the #10 slot at TBRB following his defeat of Regis Prograis.

Callum Smith (pictured) certainly looked like a Top 10 PPV fighter in his last start when he blasted out Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam at Madison Square Garden. Smith had his French Cameroonian opponent on the deck in the first, second, and again in the third frame before the referee mercifully waived it off.

Granted, N’Dam N’Jikam wasn’t the hardest guy to knock off his pins, but Smith’s performance was yet spectacular. An orthodox fighter, Smith scored his first two knockdowns with left hooks and the third with an overhand right. These were short, compact punches delivered with tremendous torque.

Smith’s showing became a mere footnote in the night’s proceedings when the main event between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr produced an upset for the ages. So, what was a smashing performance was de-valued, lost in the shadow of a much bigger story.

Callum Smith, 29, is the youngest of four fighting brothers. The two oldest captured regional titles and Liam “Beefy” Smith did them one better, winning a world title in the 154-pound class in his twenty-second pro fight. But the feeling is that the accomplishments of his older brothers actually retarded the perception of Callum Smith as a potentially great champion. Paul, Stephen, and certainly Liam were very good, but not great, and Callum, by virtue of coming from the same biological stock, was thought to have an upside that would crest before reaching the level of greatness.

But make no mistake, Callum Smith is a horse of a different color. He stands six-foot-three (none of his brothers is taller than 5’11”) and hits harder than any of his siblings, even when adjusted for the fact that he is the biggest. During one stretch as he was climbing the ladder, Smith stopped six straight opponents in the opening round. Thirteen of his 19 knockout victims were gone before the bell ending the third round. One who lasted longer was the highly capable George Groves who went down for the count in the seventh in the super middleweight final of the 2018 World Boxing Super Series tournament. Groves retired on that note.

The Gorilla

Smith’s opponent on Saturday is John Ryder (28-4, 16 KOs). Nicknamed the Gorilla, Ryder, who is giving up six inches in height and six inches in reach, is a heavy underdog, but the view from here is that he is no pushover.

Akin to Callum Smith, Ryder looked sensational in his last start which was also his U.S. debut, but you will have to take our word for it as hardly anyone was paying attention.

Ryder fought Bilal Akkawy, an undefeated (20-0-1) fighter who was attracting a lot of buzz back home in Australia. After two rather tame rounds, Ryder took Akkawy apart, winning by TKO in the third.

Ryder was originally scheduled to fight David Lemieux in what would have been the co-feature underneath Canelo Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs. When Lemieux pulled out with a hand injury, Akkawy, who had been Canelo’s chief sparring partner, filled the breach. That knocked Ryder out of the semi-main and the vast TV exposure that would have come with it. And for whatever reason, Ryder vs. Akkawy was buried deep on the card, going off early – way early before many of the ringside reporters had taken their seat.

The storyline of that fight was that Ryder exposed Akkawy, but that may not have been fair to Ryder. At age 30 (now 31) the Londoner appeared to be reaching his peak. He had won his previous three fights inside the distance against opponents who were collectively 69-2.

Callum Smith is really good. He would make a great opponent for Canelo and that fight may someday come to fruition. But first he must emerge from Saturday’s bout unscathed and although the oddsmakers say that shouldn’t be problem, don’t be surprised if the Gorilla makes things interesting and that Smith vs. Ryder provides more action than the more ballyhooed heavyweight fight taking place later that day.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel  

To comment on this story in The Fight Forum CLICK HERE