Paul James Smith Jr. (born 6 October 1982) is a British former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
who competed from 2003 to 2017, and has since worked as a commentator. He held the English
middleweight
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to .
Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...
title in 2008, the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
super-middleweight
Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...
title twice between 2009 and 2014, and challenged three times for a super-middleweight world title. As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, he won a silver medal in the
light middleweight
Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports.
Boxing
The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the Intern ...
division at the
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...
.
Amateur career
Smith started boxing at age nine with the Rotunda amateur boxing club and fought in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
,
Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg
, symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem
, national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
, and Denmark representing England. He comes from a family of boxers and he and his brothers (
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...
,
Liam
Liam is a short form of the Germanic name William, or its Irish variant Uilliam.
Etymology
The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these ...
, and
Callum) became the first group of siblings to all win
ABA titles. Paul won silver medals for his country in the 2001 Copenhagen Cup and 2002
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...
, losing to
Jean Pascal by two points; Smith was then picked up by
Frank Warren and turned professional.
Professional career
Early career
Smith's career has featured many bouts held mainly in the UK, Germany and the USA. He has faced
Andre Ward
Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified super ...
and
Arthur Abraham for the WBO Super-Middleweight title twice. The first was a controversial decision.
On 10 March 2007, he KO'd the
Belgian, Alexander Polizzi in Liverpool, winning the
WBU international middleweight title in the eighth round.
On 20 March 2007, Smith took part in boxing's answer to
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
's
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...
fighting American
Jonathan Reid; the
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
resident lost to Smith on a technical knockout.
''The Contender''
On 4 September 2007, Smith joined nine other boxing hopefuls as members of season three of ''
The Contender''. Smith fought rival David Banks from
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, and ended with a win for Smith by
split-decision. However, since Smith had the lowest point total out of the remaining boxers, he was disqualified. The victory over David Banks was fought in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
and was broadcast on
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and
ITV;
Ray Leonard said Smith let his anger take away from his ability. Smith was left with two cuts, one on his nose and another around his eye; this meant he was medically unfit to continue the contest regardless of performance.
Smith returned to England and defeated
Cello Renda to win the vacant English middleweight title. He lost the title in his very next fight against
Steven Bendall on 21 June 2008 in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England, on a much contested points decision.
British super-middleweight champion
On 30 October 2009, Smith challenged
Tony Quigley for the British super-middleweight title in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
's
Echo Arena
Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, ...
. Quigley was the holder of the British title after defeating
Tony Dodson only months earlier at the same venue. The fight was a tight affair with Smith eventually winning via split decision over 12 rounds thus crowning him the new British super-middleweight title holder.
Smith's first defense of his title came in his thirtieth professional contest at the
Echo Arena
Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
on 12 March 2010, against Tony Dodson. Smith won again, this time via a unanimous 12-round decision.
Smith boxed
Beijing 2008 gold medalist,
James DeGale at the
Echo Arena
Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
on 11 December 2012. The fight was stopped in the ninth round as DeGale landed back-to-back left hooks on Smith, causing the latter to lose his British super-middleweight title.
Smith vs. Groves

After winning his next two fights, Smith once again challenged for the British title and the Commonwealth title against
George Groves. The bout took place in Groves' native London at the
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...
on 5 November 2011. Smith won the opening round on all three judges cards and landed a hard shot on Groves towards the end of the round. One minute into the second round, however, a lead overhand right from Groves to Smith's jaw floored him. Smith was able to beat the count only to be dropped again, forcing the referee to halt the contest.
Smith vs. Abraham
On 27 September 2014, Smith fought WBO Super-Middleweight title holder
Arthur Abraham in Kiel, Germany. Despite arguably outworking Abraham for the full 12 rounds, the judges ruled in the Armenian's favour by scores of 119–109, 117–111 and 117–110. Many ringside observers saw the fight as being far closer than the judges ruled it and Smith's promoter
Eddie Hearn
Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter and the chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn has promoted many world champion boxers through Matchroom, including Anthony Joshua, Canelo Álvar ...
labelled the judges scores a "disgrace."
The two met in a rematch on 21 February 2015, at the
O2 World Arena in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. This also went the full 12 rounds as Abraham won via points on all three scorecards (116-112, 117-111 twice).
Smith vs. Ward
After his loss to Abraham, Smith faced top
pound for pound
Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, adjusted to compensate for weight class. As fighters in different weight classes do not compete directly, determining the best fighter pound for ...
boxer,
Andre Ward
Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified super ...
. This was Ward's first fight in 19 months, following a promotional dispute which sidelined him and caused him to lose his titles. The fight was scheduled for 20 June 2015 at the
Oracle Arena in California at a 172 lbs catchweight fight. The fight was to take place on
BET. Ward won via TKO in the 9th round. Ward was winning every round at the time of stoppage (80-72, 3 times). Smith missed weight, coming in at 176.4 lbs and was fined 20% ($45,000) of his $225,000 purse by the
California State Athletic Commission, half of which went to Ward and half to the commission. Despite being available in over 90 million homes, the fight averaged 323,000 viewers on BET.
Smith vs Kubin
In his comeback fight, Smith faced Bronislav Kubin. Smith dropped Kubin twice in the second round, and managed to finish his opponent in the third round, to get his comeback win.
Smith vs Grafka
Smith won the second fight of his comeback too, this time a 59 to 55 points victory over six rounds, against Bartlomiej Grafka.
Smith vs Regi
On 10 September 2016 Smith fought Daniel Regi on the Golovkin vs Brook undercard. Smith dropped his opponent several times, en route to a fifth-round TKO win.
Smith vs. Zeuge
Smith's third and final world title challenge came against
WBA (Regular) super middleweight champion
Tyron Zeuge in June 2017 at
Rittal Arena Wetzlar. The younger Zeuge proved to be too much for Smith, as he won a wide unanimous decision (119-108, 119–108, 119–108). Zeuge outworked Smith with his jab and was able to score a knockdown in round 12.
Music career
As well as being a boxer, Smith is a resident
DJ at the 'Society' nightclub in Liverpool. He co-wrote the
Ultrabeat
Ultrabeat are a British electronic dance music group from Liverpool, England, formed in 2002. Originally consisting of vocalist and producer Mike "Re-Con" Di Scala and producers Ian Redman and Chris Henry, Ultrabeat emerged with their cover o ...
song "
Better Than Life", with
Mike Di Scala and has remixed the song "Falling Stars (
Waiting for a Star To Fall)" by
Sunset Strippers, also with Di Scala.
Personal life
Paul Smith comes from a family of professional boxers, which includes
Stephen Smith,
Liam Smith, and
Callum Smith
Callum John Smith (born 23 April 1990) is a British professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim light-heavyweight title since February 2025. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super versi ...
.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
*
Paul Smith – Profile, News Archive & Current Rankingsa
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Paul
1982 births
Living people
Middleweight boxers
Boxers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
Boxers from Liverpool
The Contender (TV series) participants
English male boxers
Super-middleweight boxers
Light-middleweight boxers
England Boxing champions
British Boxing Board of Control champions
Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
21st-century English sportsmen
Commonwealth Games silver medallists in boxing