Boxing career
Smart began his boxing career as a promising amateur, fighting out of the Wingfield Amateur Boxing Club based in his home town of Caerphilly. [1] In 1979 he entered the ABA Championships held at Wembley Arena in London. He reached the final where he lost to Ray Gilbody, who would later become the British bantamweight champion. [2]
Caerphilly is a town and community in South Wales, at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, within the historic borders of Glamorgan, on the border with Monmouthshire. At the 2001 Census, the town had a population of 30,388. It is a commuter town for Cardiff and Newport, 7.5 miles (12 km) and 12 miles (19 km) away respectively, and is separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly mountain and gives its name to Caerphilly cheese.
Ray Gilbody is a British former boxer who after a successful amateur career held the British bantamweight title between 1985 and 1987, and fought for the European title twice in 1986.
Smart turned professional in 1979, facing his first opponent, George Bailey, on 10 September in Birmingham. He stopped Bailey via technical knockout in the fourth round. Smart was prolific during 1979, following his opening victory with four further limited round bouts; winning each of the contests. Despite only having five fights under his belt, at the end of 1979 Smart was listed as second only to "Champagne" Charlie Magri in the British flyweight rankings. [3] Smart continued his successful start to his career by beating Ian Murray in early 1980. He followed this with two wins over Iggy Jano and a win over Mohammed Younis, though when Smart and Younis were rematched a month later the referee declared the eight round match a draw. Smart took six months out before returning to the ring in November 1980 to beat Central region bantamweight champion, Steve Enwright.
Carmel Magri, who boxed under the name Charlie Magri, is a British former professional boxer. He is from a Tunisian family that settled in Mile End, London, where he grew up. During his professional career he held the WBC and lineal flyweight titles.
Smart began 1981 with a trip to Solihull, where he took a unanimous decision over Neil McLaughlin. Three months later, on 20 June, he needed just three rounds to dispatch Eddie Glencross at an encounter at the Empire Pool in Wembley. His third and final match of the year was against Liverpudlian Jimmy Bott on the undercard of Alan Minter's swansong fight at Wembley. Of the seven bouts arranged on that night, Smart's was the shortest, with Bott knocked out in the first round. Smart's unbeaten record of 14 fights led to him being offered a shot at an eliminator for European Flyweight championship against Spain's Enrique Rodríguez. The fight was arranged for 3 March 1981 and was held on the Spaniard's home soil at Oviedo. The fight went the full twelve rounds, and Rodríguez was given the decision. [4]
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena adjacent to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London. Used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport, the 12,500-seat facility is London's second-largest indoor arena after The O2 Arena, and the ninth-largest in the United Kingdom.
Alan Minter is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight from 1975 to 1976, and the European middleweight title twice between 1977 and 1979. As an amateur, Minter won a bronze medal in the light-middleweight division at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Enrique Rodríguez Cal is a retired boxer from Spain, who won the bronze medal in the light flyweight division division at the 1972 Summer Olympics. It was Spain's only medal in Munich, West Germany. He captured the bronze medal at the inaugural 1974 World Championships in Havana, Cuba. Rodríguez also represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics, where he was eliminated in the first round, and carried the flag at the opening ceremony.
Despite suffering the first defeat of his career, Smart's was still one of the United Kingdom's top rated flyweight fighters. In the August of the previous year Charlie Magri had vacated his British flyweight title and Smart was lined up to challenge for the title against fellow Welsh fighter Dave George. The match was held on 14 September 1982 at the Empire pool in Wembley, and Smart and George were given top billing in an event that had both Colin Jones and Frank Bruno fighting on the undercard. The fight was scheduled for 15 rounds, but only lasted until the sixth when George was laid out for the count, making Smart the new British flyweight champion. [4]
Colin Jones was a Welsh boxer, who became British, Commonwealth and European welterweight champion. Before turning professional he represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Colin had a trainer by the name of Gareth Bevan, also helped out by his son John Bevan.
Franklin Roy Bruno, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1996. He had a highly publicised and eventful career, both in and out of the ring. The pinnacle of Bruno's boxing career was winning the WBC heavyweight title from Oliver McCall at a packed Wembley Stadium in 1995, in what was his fourth world championship challenge. Bruno faced multiple top-rated heavyweights throughout his career, including two fights against Mike Tyson in 1989 and 1996, and a domestic clash against Lennox Lewis in 1993.
He fought just twice in 1984, both non-title competitions, against Tito Abella of the Philippines and Canadian Ian Clyde, both results going to Smart. In January 1985, Smart's first title defense of his British title was arranged. His opponent was Hugh Russell of Northern Ireland, and the bout was arranged at King's Hall in Belfast. The 12 round bout changed hands several times in the early stages until a badly swollen eye forced Smart to retire while in his corner between the sixth and seventh round. [4] [5] Smart took tem months out after losing his British belt, and when he returned it was to suffer an unexpected second round defeat to Ivor Jones. [4]
Ian Clyde is a retired boxer from Canada, who represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics. After defeating Charlie Magri of Great Britain, he was defeated in the quarterfinals of the men's flyweight division by Cuba's eventual silver medalist Ramón Duvalón. Clyde won a silver medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the 1979 Pan American Games. He also competed at the 1975 Pan American Games. Ian Clyde has followed his career as a professional athlete to offer personal fitness boxing coaching and competitive boxing instruction to young athletes in Montreal.
Hugh Russell is a former professional boxer from Northern Ireland who competed from 1981 to 1985. He held the British bantamweight title in 1983, and the British flyweight title from 1984 to 1985. As an amateur, he won bronze medals at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and the 1980 Summer Olympics, both in the flyweight division.
The King's Hall was a multi-purpose venue located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The King's Hall consisted of 6 event venues. The King's Hall is owned by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, who moved to the venue in 1896 from their previous showgrounds in Belfast Corporation Markets area.
Smart didn't fight throughout 1985 and on his return in January 1986, he took a narrow points decision over Midlands area bantamweight champion Rocky Lawlor. This was the final win of Smart's career. In February a return trip to Belfast saw him disqualified for a low blow against Dave McAuley, while two months later he was only able to draw against an inexperienced Joe Kelly in Glasgow. He followed this with three overseas bouts against difficult opponents; Alain Limarola and Thierry Jacob of France and Guyanese bantamweight champion Michael Parris. He completed 1986 with a challenge for the vacant Welsh featherweight title, but was outclassed by Peter Harris of Swansea. The next year Smart fought twice, losing to Fabrice Benichou in the first round and then a career ending defeat by future British featherweight champion Sean Murphy.
