Stephen Smith Retires

[Ruthless-RKO]

Stephen Retires

Stephen Smith has announced that he is hanging up his gloves on the anniversary of his professional debut.

‘Swifty’, 35, made his bow in the paid code on June 21, 2008, and made the news public of his decision 13 years after knocking out Shaun Walton in the third of four rounds at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Smith represented Rotunda ABC as an amateur and achieved fame at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne when he defeated Mehrullah Lassi in the final to win a gold medal.

He went on to win British, Commonwealth and fringe WBO and WBC baubles before stepping up to challenge for world honors in the super-featherweight division twice.

Smith lost by a technical decision to Francisco Vargas in what was his last defeat after an accidental headbutt left him with his left ear almost detached at Mandalay Bay in Paradise, Nevada, back in 2017, but finished his career with a string of three victories, with the most recent coming against Jonny Phillips on the undercard of aforementioned younger brother Callum’s win against John Ryder at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

[Bleak]

Good Career that

[Stobbo]

Good fighter, good career. good descision

[Counter-puncher]

I really thought he would go on to world level honours at first after some really impressive early performances, but then he struggled a little more than I'd have liked against John Simpson (a good fighter but domestic level)

the trip up to superfeather suited him better than I thought it might, then the stoppage of gary Buckland is a very good-looking win and one i thought would really mean he'd make waves in the 130lb division. then, i never really managed to follow his career closely after that, he seemed a loooong way down in his promoter's priorities. difficult to shake the impression he could have achieved more, he looked the most 'talented' Smith brother (for what that's worth), to me.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I really thought he would go on to world level honours at first after some really impressive early performances, but then he struggled a little more than I'd have liked against John Simpson (a good fighter but domestic level)

the trip up to superfeather suited him better than I thought it might, then the stoppage of gary Buckland is a very good-looking win and one i thought would really mean he'd make waves in the 130lb division. then, i never really managed to follow his career closely after that, he seemed a loooong way down in his promoter's priorities. difficult to shake the impression he could have achieved more, he looked the most 'talented' Smith brother (for what that's worth), to me.

He had two opportunities..

Can't remember who he fought, but he wasn't in an easy division as well.

[Counter-puncher]

I really thought he would go on to world level honours at first after some really impressive early performances, but then he struggled a little more than I'd have liked against John Simpson (a good fighter but domestic level)

the trip up to superfeather suited him better than I thought it might, then the stoppage of gary Buckland is a very good-looking win and one i thought would really mean he'd make waves in the 130lb division. then, i never really managed to follow his career closely after that, he seemed a loooong way down in his promoter's priorities. difficult to shake the impression he could have achieved more, he looked the most 'talented' Smith brother (for what that's worth), to me.

He had two opportunities..

Can't remember who he fought, but he wasn't in an easy division as well.

how many did Paul get? twice that many (at least?), with half the talent (at most!!)?

[Boxerbeetle]

I was at the Buckland fight, what a peach of a ko that was.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I really thought he would go on to world level honours at first after some really impressive early performances, but then he struggled a little more than I'd have liked against John Simpson (a good fighter but domestic level)

the trip up to superfeather suited him better than I thought it might, then the stoppage of gary Buckland is a very good-looking win and one i thought would really mean he'd make waves in the 130lb division. then, i never really managed to follow his career closely after that, he seemed a loooong way down in his promoter's priorities. difficult to shake the impression he could have achieved more, he looked the most 'talented' Smith brother (for what that's worth), to me.

He had two opportunities..

Can't remember who he fought, but he wasn't in an easy division as well.

how many did Paul get? twice that many (at least?), with half the talent (at most!!)?

Swifty fought Jose Pedraza for the IBF in 2016. Lost UD
then fought Jason Sosa for the WBA (i think it was regular) in 2017. Lost UD

Stephen was dropped in both fights
--------------

Smigga fought Arthur Abraham back to back for the WBO belt in 2014 and 2015. Lost both via UD.
then fought Tyron Zeuge for the WBA 'regular' belt in 2017. Lost UD - was also dropped.

[Bleak]

Wasn’t Stephen considered the most
Talented out the brothers, certainly that was the view in Liverpool at one time.

[maverick23]

Wasn’t Stephen considered the most
Talented out the brothers, certainly that was the view in Liverpool at one time.

Yeah - I was really high on him when he turned pro. Silky boxer with decent power. He probably underestimated Selby before fighting him and was badly stopped and aside from the occasional pretty good win (Buckland, Boschiero) he didn’t really seem to build the momentum needed to win a world title.

I always thought he seemed small at super-feather world level compared to some of the guys he was fighting. Perhaps if he’d stayed at Feather he may have snuck a world title or been involved in some bigger domestic fights.

[Counter-puncher]

He had two opportunities..

Can't remember who he fought, but he wasn't in an easy division as well.

how many did Paul get? twice that many (at least?), with half the talent (at most!!)?

Swifty fought Jose Pedraza for the IBF in 2016. Lost UD
then fought Jason Sosa for the WBA (i think it was regular) in 2017. Lost UD

Stephen was dropped in both fights
--------------

Smigga fought Arthur Abraham back to back for the WBO belt in 2014 and 2015. Lost both via UD.
then fought Tyron Zeuge for the WBA 'regular' belt in 2017. Lost UD - was also dropped.

And two shots at Ward?!

[Counter-puncher]

I was at the Buckland fight, what a peach of a ko that was.

Heck of a result, nobody else at 130 did that to Buckland (and huge lightweight John Murray pounded on him for about 9 rounds without ko’ing him IIRC)

[Ruthless-RKO]

how many did Paul get? twice that many (at least?), with half the talent (at most!!)?

Swifty fought Jose Pedraza for the IBF in 2016. Lost UD
then fought Jason Sosa for the WBA (i think it was regular) in 2017. Lost UD

Stephen was dropped in both fights
--------------

Smigga fought Arthur Abraham back to back for the WBO belt in 2014 and 2015. Lost both via UD.
then fought Tyron Zeuge for the WBA 'regular' belt in 2017. Lost UD - was also dropped.

And two shots at Ward?!

He fought Ward once and came in overweight. TKO9 loss.. Was non-title fights. Was paid around $250k but had to give up around $50k.

[Counter-puncher]

[margaret thatcher]

he was a good euro level fighter, for me the biggest memories are both the simpson wars and the buckland ktfo

at the time a lot of ppl thinking he would beat pedraza, he looked like he might have that potential for a bit

it seems like after getting his ear torn off against vargas promoter stopped caring about him, 3 6 rounders to end his career, all wins

[mickey1975]

Swifty fought Jose Pedraza for the IBF in 2016. Lost UD
then fought Jason Sosa for the WBA (i think it was regular) in 2017. Lost UD

Stephen was dropped in both fights
--------------

Smigga fought Arthur Abraham back to back for the WBO belt in 2014 and 2015. Lost both via UD.
then fought Tyron Zeuge for the WBA 'regular' belt in 2017. Lost UD - was also dropped.

And two shots at Ward?!

He fought Ward once and came in overweight. TKO9 loss.. Was non-title fights. Was paid around $250k but had to give up around $50k.

Ward gave him it back.
Swifty was THE certainty for p4p dominance according to the scouse boxers on here.

[Coco]

He can retire happy and satisfied, a good career.
It annoys me when fighters are criticised for not being world class.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

The second half of his career was pretty much a non event. Was he injured or just doing other things ?

[Coco]

The second half of his career was pretty much a non event. Was he injured or just doing other things ?

He def was short of luck, but I think previous defeats had shown his level, decent European class

[margaret thatcher]

He can retire happy and satisfied, a good career.
It annoys me when fighters are criticised for not being world class.

american fans are worse for this, decent euro level guy goes over and loses a world title fight, they'll say the champ beat a total bum/scrub/nobody

so many forums i hardly go on any more, because it's mostly americans and they only ever talk about the absolute top tier of elite world class fighters. outside those guys theres pretty much dead air

the uk is actually really good for having lively and enthusiastic scenes at pretty much all levels. in uk winning british title is a big deal. in usa winning something like the usba title is irrelevant

[maverick23]

The second half of his career was pretty much a non event. Was he injured or just doing other things ?

He’s a proper family man. Loves being around for his kids. I don’t think his heart’s been in it for a few years now.

[REEVE]

Good amature good pro

All the best in retirement

[high tower 1]

He can retire happy and satisfied, a good career.
It annoys me when fighters are criticised for not being world class.

american fans are worse for this, decent euro level guy goes over and loses a world title fight, they'll say the champ beat a total bum/scrub/nobody

so many forums i hardly go on any more, because it's mostly americans and they only ever talk about the absolute top tier of elite world class fighters. outside those guys theres pretty much dead air

the uk is actually really good for having lively and enthusiastic scenes at pretty much all levels. in uk winning british title is a big deal. in usa winning something like the usba title is irrelevant

I wouldn’t listen to Americans opinion on anything.

[TheLeprechaun]

Good amature good pro

All the best in retirement

Agree with this. He had some good achievements, showed heart coming back from the selby ko, tested himself at top level and if I was him I could retire happily. He seemed like a guy who put everything into it and that's all you can do. Hes got the peace of mind knowing that he had some great nights and went in against the best and gave it a go. What more can you do. He seemed like he was always in there giving it a go and trying to win. Gotta respect that.

[ElJefe]

Hope he got well paid for that fight when his ear nearly came off.