Callum Smith

Amateur career

As an amateur, Smith represented Rotunda ABC in Liverpool at domestic level, where he won the 2010 Great Britain welterweight title and 2011 Great Britain Middleweight title and GB Boxing internationally.

2010 Commonwealth Games

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, Smith up kept family tradition by winning a silver medal in the welterweight division, following brothers Paul, who also won silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England and Stephen who claimed a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. Triumphs over most notably Aston Brown of Scotland and Carl Hield of Bahrain saw Smith into the final only to be beaten by Northern Irish Patrick Gallagher.

2012 Olympic qualification tournament

Smith's bid to become GB Boxing's light heavyweight (81 kg) representative at the 2012 Olympic Games in London ended in bitter disappointment and controversy at the final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Trabzon, Turkey. After losing 16:14 in inexplicable fashion to Azerbaijan's Vatan Huseynli in the bout where a win would seal qualification, his hopes now relied on the man who had beat him in the previous round. As three light heavyweight Olympic places were available, the semi-finalist who lost to the eventual winner would take the third spot, however Smith's conqueror Huseynli lost to local Turkish boxer Bahram Muzaffer and Smith missed out on the third qualifying place. Soon after the tournament it was decided by AIBA that an invitational place at the Olympics was to be made available to a boxer of their choice and Smith had been short listed for the position but it was eventually decided in a cruel twist for the Englishman, that the place should be awarded to Boško Drašković of Montenegro, a man who Smith had convincingly out pointed earlier in the tournament. Drašković was eliminated from the Olympics in the first round.

Early career

In October 2012 Smith followed his brothers into the professional ranks, under the promotional banner of Matchroom Sport, and like his siblings, would be coached by Manchester based trainer Joe Gallagher. It was announced that he would make his debut on the undercard of Carl Froch vs. Yusaf Mack in Nottingham's Capital FM Arena on 17 November 2012. He scored a clear points win against Dan Blackwell over four rounds in his debut contest, however the victor wasn't entirely satisfied with his performance. The following month Smith returned to the ring for another four round contest at the London Olympia, his opponent was James Tucker and once again 'Mundo' won every round in a comfortable fashion.

In February 2013, on the undercard of Carl Frampton vs. Kiko Martinez at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Smith earned his first stoppage win as a professional, halting Irishman Tommy Tolan, who had previously been beaten by Smith's brother Paul, in the opening round. Smith's home debut, on the undercard of Bellew–Chilemba I, at Liverpool's Echo Arena saw another Smith win in similar fashion, again his opponent, Iain Jackson, didn't hear the bell to close the first round. Now 5-0, it was time for Smith to step up his level of opponent and be given a stiffer test than he had previously been provided, the man chosen to provide this test was Latvian Ruslans Pojonisevs, however Smith's ability and punching power may have been under-rated as he made short work of his opponent with another first-round KO. On 25 May 2013, on the Froch–Kessler II bill at London's O2 Arena, he met unbeaten Ryan Moore (3-0, Smith clearly demonstrated his superiority with an impressive fourth consecutive first-round KO.

Domestic and Regional success

On 21 September 2013 Callum Smith defeated Patrick Mendy in a British record 6th first round stoppage, and won the vacant English Super Middleweight title. On 26 October Smith defeated Ruben Eduardo Acosta (27-8, 10 KOs) via sixth-round knockout to win the vacant WBC International Super Middleweight title. Smiths next bout was against French boxer Francois Bastient (43-10, 18 KOs) at the Phones 4u Arena on 19 April. Bastient down in the 3rd round, his corner threw in the towel despite him beating the count of referee Mr Finch.

On 17 May Smith defeated Tobias Webb via 2nd-round knockout to retain the WBC International title. Smith then defeated 32 year old southpaw Vladine Biosse via unanimous decision on 12 July. Smith was ahead on all 3 judges scorecards by a long way. Smith next fought undefeated Mexican Abraham Hernandez (5-0, 3 KOs) on 16 August. This was Smiths first pro fight in the United States where he won by first-round knockout. On 4 October 2014 Smith knocked out Uruguayan veteran Rafael Sosa Pintos in round 3. Pintos was down three times in the 3rd round. On 22 November Smith fought in his first ever 12 round boxing match. This was also a WBC Super Middleweight title eliminator, against 36 year old Serbian Nikola Sjekloca (28-2, 8 KOs). The bout went full 12 rounds, with all the judges scoring it (118-111, 118-110 & 120-108) all in favour of Smith.

Smith vs. Rebrasse, Fielding

Six months after his unanimous decision win over Sjekloca, Smith returned to action at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham on 9 May 2015 against Latvian Olegs Fedotovs. Smith won via 1st-round TKO. On 26 June Smith returned to Echo Arena for the fifth time of his pro career to take on French boxer Christopher Rebrasse (23-3-3, 6 KOs) for the vacant WBC Silver Super MIddleweight Title. The fight went full 12 rounds with the judges scoring it (120-107, 118-110 twice) all in favour of Smith. On 7 November, Smith took on the unbeaten Brit Rocky Fielding (21-0, 12 KOs) at the Echo Arena. Fielding was down three times prior to the stoppage in the first round 5 seconds from the bell. Smith won the vacant British Super Middleweight title.

Smith vs. Mohoumadi, Reynoso

On 2 April 2016 Smith fought French boxer Hadillah Mohoumadi (20-3-1, 15 KOs) at the Echo Arena. This was a WBC super-middleweight title final eliminator and also for the EBU Super Middleweight title. Smith won via first-round TKO.

On 16 May Smith was added to the undercard of Tony Bellew's world title shot at Goodison Park on 29 May alongside heavyweight David Price and lightweight Sean Dodd. Smith joined his older brothers, both world title challengers Paul and Stephen on the same card. Smith defeated Cesar Reynoso, via TKO in the 6th round. Smith knocked Reynoso down three times in the contest, dropping him with left hands in round one, four and five. The first knockdown of the fight came from a short left hook to the head of Reynoso in round one. Smith dropped Reynoso with lefts to the body in round four and five.

Smith vs. Nemesapati, Blackledge

Smith next fought on the undercard of world middleweight championship fight Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook at the O2 Arena on 10 September 2016. His opponent was announced to be 21-year-old Hungarian boxer Norbert Nemesapati. Smith retained his WBC Silver title retiring Nemesapati after 6 rounds in their scheduled 12 round fight. The fight stopped after Smith connected with a hard left to the body. Following the post fight interview, it was noted that Smith was the mandatory for the WBC world title, but would wait until Badou Jack and James DeGale to fight it out in a unification fight in early 2017 before fighting the winner.

Waiting for a world title shot, Smith announced he would fight again before the close of the year. The fight would take place on the undercard of IBF heavyweight fight Joshua vs. Molina on 10 December at the Manchester Arena. It was said that Smith would defend his Lonsdale title against mandatory challenger Luke Blackledge (21-2-2, 7 KOs). Smith successfully defended his British super-middleweight title after stopping Blackledge in the 10th round. Smith knocked Blackledge down in rounds 3 and 8 with big power shots however, Blackledge was completely out in the 10th round with a left hook to the head which dropped him. The medical staff were brought into the ring to check on Blackledge and gave him an oxygen mask, but he was able to get up and leave the ring on his own two feet.

World Boxing Super Series

On 16 January 2017 the WBC ordered negotiations to begin for a fight between Smith and WBC champion Badou Jack (20-1-3, 12 KOs). This ruled out a potential unification rematch James DeGale was pursuing, although Jack also stated he planned on moving up to light heavyweight. On 18 January, Jack officially vacated his WBC belt in order to move up to the light heavyweight division. This meant that former champion Anthony Dirrell would next be in line for a world title fight. At the purse bid on 5 March, Ten Goose Boxing, on behalf of Al Haymon won with a bid of $1.6 million to control promotional rights of the fight. It was reported that Matchroom Sport, who promote Smith put in a bid of $1.2 million. Trainer Joe Gallagher confirmed the fight would take place on 9 September 2017 in Los Angeles. On 30 June, it was reported that the Dirrell camp were trying to move the location of the fight to Flint, Michigan, Dirrell's hometown. Eddie Hearn stated there was nothing in the contracts about allowing the date or venue to change, and they would stand firm on the fight taking place in Los Angeles. Heard had hoped that Dirrell would join the World Boxing Super Series, so the fight could take place in the quarter finals, but Dirrell had already refused to enter, meaning Smith would not enter either.

On 6 July 2017, it was confirmed that Smith had joined the inaugural World Boxing Super Series, where the winner would receive a prize money and the Muhammad Ali Trophy. Due to being WBC's number 1 ranked contender at super-middleweight, the WBC had said Smith would fight for their Diamond belt in the quarter-finals. Others in the tournament included WBA champion George Groves, Juergen Braehmer and undefeated contenders Erik Skoglund and Jamie Cox.

Smith vs. Skoglund

At the draft Gala, which took place at the famous Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Smith, who was second-seeded, chose to fight Swedish contender Erik Skoglund (26-0, 12 KOs). Smith explained why he chose Skoglund, saying he felt Skoglund was 'stylistically the best fight' for him. On 19 July, Smith confirmed the fight would take place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on 16 September 2017. It would also be the first fight of the series. Smith also admitted, on paper, Skoglund is the best boxer he would fight. Skoglund, who had previously fought in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany, said he had no issues with traveling to the England, as he was looking to prove himself. Smith dropped Skoglund in the 11th round en route to win the fight via unanimous decision in a hard fought exciting contest. Smith and Skoglund both showed immense respect for each other throughout the buildup and after the fight. The three judges scored the fight 116-112, 117-110 and 117-111 in favour of Smith, who advanced to the next round tournament and claimed the vacant WBC Diamond belt.