Solomon Garcia Smith (March 6, 1871 – August 28, 1933) was an American

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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

in the

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

division. He was a World Featherweight champion and is the first world champion of

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

descent.

Early life

Smith was born in Los Angeles, the son of a Mexican mother and an Irish father. He was an outstanding long-distance track runner in his youth, which may have later aided his ability to endure long boxing bouts.

Professional career

Solomon Garcia Smith made his professional debut in 1888 at the age of 17. In his 21st bout on September 25, 1893, he challenged future hall of famer George Dixon for the World Featherweight Championship but was defeated by seventh-round tko. The fight drew the largest paying crowd recorded at Brooklyn's

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to th ...

Athletic Club. After the bout, Smith was arrested for participating in a fight with Johnny Griffin in Roby, Indiana, two months earlier.

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which la ...

had been the timekeeper. He improved his skills in subsequent bouts and established himself as one of the top fighters in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, fighting to draws against future hall of fame member

Young Griffo Albert Griffiths (1 January 1871 – 10 December 1927), better known as Young Griffo, was a World Featherweight boxing champion from 1890 to 1892, and according to many sources, one of the first boxing world champions in any class. '' Ring'' ...

and future two-division champion

Frank Erne Frank Erne (January 8, 1875 – September 17, 1954) was a Swiss-born American boxer widely credited with taking the World Featherweight Championship on November 27, 1896, from George Dixon in New York City, as well as the World Lightweight Champi ...

, along with scoring quality wins over opponents such as former champion Torpedo Billy Murphy and avenging a disqualification loss to Oscar Gardner.

World Featherweight Championship

The crowning moment of Smith's career came on October 4, 1897, when he defeated George Dixon in a rematch bout to capture the World Featherweight title, thus ending the Canadian champion's six-year reign. ''The San Francisco Call'' wrote of Smith's performance: "Instead of swinging wild and recklessly, as he was wont to do in his early fighting days, he gauged his distance and timed his blows like a polished veteran. His quick ducking under the left arm of his opponent to avoid a jaw warmer was a revelation to his admirers, who repeatedly cheered him when he escaped the hot shots aimed at the jaw point by Professor Dixon" Smith was seen as a promising champion, having avenged losses to two of the three men who held victories over him up to that point, Dixon and Gardner, with the third being reigning lightweight champion and future hall of fame member Kid Lavigne who had outpointed Smith in an eight round contest. However, after twice retaining his title, he relinquished it due to a mishap against Dave Sullivan. Smith had the misfortune to break his left arm near the wrist in the second round of their bout, ending his chances to give a good showing. Unable to use his left at all in the fourth and fifth rounds, he was deemed unable to continue. His career took a downward spiral following that loss as he won only one out of the fifteen remaining bouts in his career. He retired after a knockout loss to Billy Snailham in 1904.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profe ...

, unless otherwise stated.

Official Record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a " no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Cl ...

s are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted as a win, loss or draw.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s to the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Solly American boxers of Mexican descent Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California Boxers from California World boxing champions World featherweight boxing champions Featherweight boxers 1871 births 1933 deaths American male boxers