Adam Azim vs. Dalton Smith - who wins?

[wrighty]

I don't like to use the word 'hypejob' but I hope the boxing community will learn to stop drooling over the next young fighter with a flashy KO streak and a padded record.

Azim's opponents all have a low KO ratio/have no pop and often smaller with shorter reach. Yes he's young, but he is greener than grass.

Great job on the promoters and people around him in generating the hype though.

They did that with Khan early doors. Smaller guys who weren't punchers. The Earl win was good though

[Noxy]

Not really, I would see that more as a title fight down the line. One of them (Smith most likely) needs to get a title first.

[SeanBrennan]

i think this is a fantastic one in 3 years, Azim is still very young

[1543276]

Feel sorry for Adam Azim. His promoter making him vacate to geometry dash online avoid his mandatory is a shocker!

[Bigdogsnose]

Should fight now. Fights got its own thread, so thats it, its fcuking massive!

In all seriousness though, it is a big fight now and it might not be later. Anything can happen.

Alternatively let it 'Marinate'. Worked a treat for brook v khan, fury v joshua, buatsi v yarde etc

[Coco]

Feel sorry for Adam Azim. His promoter making him vacate to avoid his mandatory is a shocker!

Agree with this

[smiling assassin]

Feel sorry for Adam Azim. His promoter making him vacate to avoid his mandatory is a shocker!

Agree with this

I’m sure Azim could push for the fight to be made if that’s what he really wants

[SeanBrennan]

Azim is young, I get why his team will not want it yet, it's good management

[coneye]

If your old enough to want the good money , and to want fight for and win titles , Your old enough simple has that , otherwise only take 6 rounders for rubbish money , can't have it all ways , But its the way its been going for years now

[Ruthless-RKO]

Adam Azim: I don’t need Dalton Smith, he needs me

Adam Azim has spent the past few months holed up in the gym working on his game, blissfully distant from boxing politics and repetitive questions about other fighters.

On Saturday night, the unbeaten super lightweight returns from an eight month injury lay-off and fights Ohara Davies at the Copperbox Arena.

The 22-year-old is prepared for his peace to be broken.

“It's been such an extremely long period of time where I've not even fought in the ring for a while due to injuries, due to making the fight happen. Initially, I was meant to fight Harlem Eubank, but I'm now fighting Ohara Davies, which is a bigger fight. I see it as a more dangerous fight,” Azim, 11-0 (8 KOs), told Boxing Scene.

“In life everything happens for a reason, and I've obviously got a bigger, better thing, which is a bigger fight now.”

As fight week kicks into gear, Azim knows that he will face a line of interviewers, all with more questions to ask about his promoter, Ben Shalom, and his run-ins with Dalton Smith and Eddie Hearn, than his fight with Davies.

As frustrating as it must be, Azim has become numb to it. He has dusted off his stock answer and slipped it effortlessly back into his repertoire.

“These lot have been chasing the Dalton Smith fight for a while,” he said.

“All the media have been braving to have that fight. The thing is, I'm not in a rush to have that fight. I don't need Dalton, Dalton needs me. These fighters need me because I've got a bigger profile.”

Azim isn’t ignorant to the fact that people want to see him tested. He also understands exactly why his junior welterweight peers want to get him in the ring as soon as possible. He insists that he isn’t going to allow anybody else to knock him off schedule.

“Obviously I'm still young. They know I'm still young,” he said of his rivals.

“If anything they’ll probably chuck money at me, thinking I'll take them for money. No, I’m not that person. I'm that person who's after legacy. I'm the person who wants to improve and be the best to come out of UK. That's my ambition.”

It will go over lots of heads this week but Davies, 25-3 (18 KOs), is a test.

For years, the heavy-handed Londoner would have been somewhere close to the bottom of the list for any matchmaker charged with finding an opponent for an exciting, unbeaten prospect to return from injury against.

The 32-year-old’s style makes him difficult to look good against and his lack of filter also gives him the the ability to infiltrate his opponent’s mind.

There are a number of reasons why the fight makes sense for Azim.

He has known Davies since he was a child. He has seen him click into character and kick up a fuss at press conferences but has also spent hours and hours with the real Ohara Davies and leant on a ring apron, watching him train and spar. Fighting a friend isn’t easy but that familiarity should allow Azim to approach the fight coldly rather than allowing Davies to get under his skin.

“Because it's been so many years, I don't how the sparring was because I was nine or 10 years old that time,” Azim recalled. “When I used to watch Ohara train and spar I was just a kid so I never thought of saying, ‘I'm gonna beat him’ or anything like that. It was just more purely just watching him spar and getting some tips off him

“Obviously he has his moments where he likes to approach an opponent and where he wants to diss ‘em. But with me, in this case, we're both friends. You know each other for years. I’ve got nothing bad to say about him. All we want to do is put a great fight on.

“When I go into the fight there’s no friendship - it’s just pure war - but when you come out the ring we're still friends. Next morning I'll probably call him up like, ‘Listen, let's go get something to eat.’

“I've got respect for him but when we get in that ring it's probably more like Dan Azeez and Joshua Buatsi. They were good friends and they had to fight each other. It's all respect after the ring.”

In January, Davies suffered a shocking first round stoppage loss to Venezuelan warhorse, Ismael Barroso. After waiting years for a chance to prove himself at world level, Davies’ big night couldn’t have gone any worse and resulted in him having to take this weekend’s make or break fight.

Azim made his name with a series of blistering early finishes but although he is prepared for Davies to be on high alert from the opening bell this weekend, he doesn’t expect him to fight with an all-or-nothing sense of desperation.

“Ohara has always had that mindset to be dangerous, so not necessarily,” he said. “Obviously he's still got that [the loss to Barroso] in his back in his head, but he's not going to be thinking ‘Oh. I need to go in and try and knock him out.’ He's going to go in and try and win. He's going to go in because he's got a different mentality and he's always been a dangerous opponent. So now I'm not taking my hats off with him.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Adam Azim vows to teach Dalton Smith a lesson after ‘bullying’ Ben Shalom

Adam Azim has fired back at his domestic rival Dalton Smith following his victory over Ohara Davies at London’s Copper Box Arena.

Azim produced a career-best performance to stop Davies in his biggest fight to date. Davies, now 32, was seen as a step-up in class to Azim’s previous opponents, and although he had suffered a stoppage loss to Ismael Barroso, he was considered a contender. Azim and Davies may have been opponents on fight night but beforehand had been friends after spending time in the Peacock Amateur Boxing Gym setup more than a decade ago.

“It’s really heart-breaking,” Azim told BS following the victory. “I’ve got so much respect for him, he’s a good friend of mine and it’s just sad that I’ve got to fight him. Sometimes you need to fight your friends to get to where you need to go to – it’s a bit like when Joshua Buatsi fought Dan Azeez. Look, I got the job done tonight. I’m not really reminiscing about the win, I’m just happy we both got out of the fight safe.”

Azim seemed levels above Davies during the fight, even though his opponent had boxed at a higher level than the 22-year-old. He used his stiff jab to outbox Davies before finally finishing the job with a sharp left hook.

“I think I showed a side to me that you haven’t seen,” said Azim. “I was boxing from long-range, boxing from mid-range, and I was throwing inside shots as well. I know I got clipped sometimes and people know I can take a shot now. When I was in there, I was feeling the shots because they were quite heavy.”

Azim has been linked with a fight with his domestic rival Dalton Smith since he was ordered to defend his European title against the Sheffield contender. He instead relinquished his title and chose to go another route, but a fight between the pair is still being called for by many.

Smith reacted to Azim’s win on X, posting: “Adam Azim congrats on the win that’s what we needed. I heard Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh was sat talking some big fights for next year.”

Smith’s post may have been respectful, but Azim was in no mood for pleasantries when he was asked about a potential clash between the two. He was angered by Smith’s treatment of his promoter Ben Shalom, referring to Smith interrupting an interview with Shalom and questioning him about a fight with himself.

“He’s already tweeted it so I know it’s playing on his mind,” Azim said. “I’m just sick and tired of him talking about me and him bullying my promoter. When that fight comes, I’m going to teach him a lesson. He wouldn’t say it to my face.”

[maverick23]

Bullying Ben Shalom? That’s pretty pathetic.

Dalton asked Shalom about the fight during an interview. I didn’t even find what he said was disrespectful let alone bullying. Shalom gave as good as he got too.

[Coco]

Bullying Ben Shalom? That’s pretty pathetic.

Dalton asked Shalom about the fight during an interview. I didn’t even find what he said was disrespectful let alone bullying. Shalom gave as good as he got too.

Azim might refuse to fight Dalton now

[black panther]

It's been decades now where the best in country at a weight class avoid each other until they're both over the hill or have no where to go.

Fights like Groves Vs Degale where fighters on the way up square off are becoming rarer and rarer. That didn't either of them: both went on to have cracking careers.

[margaret thatcher]

bullying ben shalom, wtf

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ok.. let’s see it next?

[Oiky]

Dalton smith, Azim would make a meal of it and get boxed all about the ring

[Coco]

Smith wins by disqualification

[SeanBrennan]

I don't think Azim will get risked with Dalton yet, but I think Azim would stop Dalton. Big Dalton fan though. 22 is very young for a test that big, I think they'll manage him avoiding it but I suspect money might talk and it happens earlier.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Eddies had his say

“It is a PR disaster to use the word ‘marinate’ in relation to a fight,” Hearn said on The Matchroom Boxing Podcast. “Why would we marinate this fight when it is beautifully cooked already?

“Why would we wait a year or two years for Dalton Smith vs. Adam Azim? It is staring us in the face. It’s a dangerous fight for Dalton and it’s a dangerous fight for Adam Azim.”

“You might even say it’s a 50/50 fight but isn’t that what you want? It’s not far off a mega fight, it could probably sell out Hillsborough [home of Sheffield Wednesday FC], it could maybe sell out the [London] O2, both guys can make a lot of money. I hate that, ‘If the Saudis come in with big money then we might look at it, but if not, let’s marinate it nicely.’”

“Shane McGuigan said Azim beats up Smith and stops him,” Hearn scoffed. “Why wouldn’t you take the fight if that’s the case, for massive money, for massive profile – and you’d be stealing Dalton Smith’s mandatory position [he is currently ranked No. 2 with the WBC]?

“And when they say ‘Eddie Hearn is desperate’, well, I am desperate for that fight. I want to make it bad. I am pleading to make Dalton Smith vs. Adam Azim. And not because we’ve got nowhere else to go but because we think it’s one of the best fights in British boxing. Everyone should be desperate for it.”

[CaptainSpacerod]

Fair comment from Eddie, “marinate” is a word that’s become commonplace in boxing recently.

“We’ll let this fight marinate” or some version thereof is basically a euphemism used by fighters trainers and promoters which actually means “listen suckers, we’re gonna squeeze every last penny out of you gormless boxing fans by fighting irrelevant overmatched opponents as many times as we can get away with before we finally give you the fight you want “

[mickey1975]

Does he mean Hillsborough leisure centre?

[THEBUTCH]

Explain yourself coco ?

Smith by disqualification is quite the prediction!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Explain yourself coco ?

Smith by disqualification is quite the prediction!

He said Smith wins via DQ?

Did you watch Azim’s last fight?

[THEBUTCH]

Good post & reminder Ruthless-RKO

The low blows were f*cking bad !