By Lee Elford

Since the arrival of BoxNation, many of Britain’s brightest up and coming talents have had the opportunity to showcase their skills live on TV for the first time. In the past and, to this day, several terrestrial and sky platforms get their shows underway with the main even imminent, largely disregarding the development of the youngsters who generally possess all the skills and array of talent needed to create a real buzz of excitement for the future — most boxing fans are, thanks to Boxnation, fully aware of the rising stars making waves through the domestic scene.

One of those brighter stars is popular 19 year old Mitchell Smith, 4-0 (1KO) — A 5’5 dynamite of a Super featherweight, whose slick skills and powerful punching has seen an army of loyal followers accompanying him since the beginning of his boxing journey at London’s iconic York Hall.

The “Baby Faced Assassin” is regularly named among writers as the current force to be reckoned with among the many promising prospects of the British Isles, and he is about to make his next big step as a professional — a place on the undercard for the massive Ricky Burns bill, which includes George Groves, Billy Joe Saunders and promising stable mate Tony Conquest. Pencilled in for December 15 at London’s Excel Arena, it will be only his fifth professional outing.

BoxingScene caught up with proud new Father Mitchell, and rewound the clock when asking the super talented young boxer to recall his reasons for taking up the noble art as a school boy.  “I was about five or six, and I got bullied at my first school’’ remembered Smith.

“I came back and well, I was whinging and crying and what have you and my Dad thought he’d take me down to boxing to sort it out, a bit of self defence, you know. Basically I never looked back really — he took me to a couple of boxing shows and I’ve been in the gym ever since.”

 

It is great to hear that one of our finest prospects came through a tough start to get to where he is today, and he is equally thankful to learn of the lofty heights fans hold him in as one for the future.

“It’s lovely to hear that people say I’m one of the top prospects coming up,” he said. “All I can do is keep training hard and keep my feet firmly on the ground. Having the support off everyone is a major thing, it makes me feel good and I appreciate what everyone does for me.”

Mitchell enjoyed a solid amateur career which started at the Harrow boxing club where his father, John Smith, coached him. Mitchell would move on from building his foundations there to winning the NABC’s at 14, his first title. A year later he won his second NABC title. At 17, he won the junior ABA championships before moving to Welling Garden City to box in the senior ABA’s where he would win his first senior amateur title under the coaching of Paul Cook and Harry Carrick. He hints that it’s all down to attitude to reap the rewards and become successful when coming up through the ranks, and explains how he wound up under Frank Warren’s promotional banner.

“It’s an apprenticeship, Amateur boxing,” said Smith. “That’s how I saw it and if I was to tell any other amateur boxer I’d say it’s an apprenticeship and to just enjoy what you’re doing and to perform to the best of your ability.

“I boxed for England on my last amateur fight — I could have gone up and tried for the GB squad but, I wasn’t on weight. My head was a bit all over the place really — I was in two minds on whether to turn pro or stay amateur. Everyone kept saying to me that I’m only 18 and I’m too young, don’t turn over don’t turn over — I just ended up going around it myself and I rang a few people up.

“One of those was my good mate Danny Chamberlain, who’s a professional coach. I spoke to him about things and I done a bit of work with him, a bit of strength work and that. He’s very good mates with Jason Rowland (Mitchell’s current coach) so, he took me down to Jason Rowland and I’ve been training with him for the past 9 or 10 months.

“We’ve got a good bond going on now. He was the one who said we’re just going to have a look at me etc. He was fighting under Frank Warren when he was a pro so, he got in touch with Frank Warren and we sorted something out which was nice. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting big things like fighting under Frank Warren — it’s overwhelming.”

Perhaps even more over whelming, to fans at least, was his blistering start in the paid ranks. Taking on James Ancliffe, he put on what was generally perceived as the performance of the night; a mature, fearless debut which showed Mitchell has everything in the locker; defence, technical nous and power to match as he stopped his man during round three of their four-round contest.

This was quicker than unbeaten Kid Gallahad, Joe Murray and British and Commonwealth champion Lee Selby managed against the same opponent, and Mitchell has clocked up three more impressive victories over the distance,

“When Jason Rowland came up with Richard Clark my manager, they came up with the opponent James Ancliffe. I’d obviously heard of him before, a lot of people thought we may have been going in a little too deep. But I had a good amateur pedigree, I believe in my own boxing ability and I was training hard. I had a good camp for that fight, we do a good camp for every fight — solid six to eight weeks training and I knew that I was in great shape for anyone really.”

Despite his tender years, Mitchell largely shuns the party lifestyle. A recent new father, he is essentially a family man who concentrates on his boxing career, giving himself the best chance to put 100% into his dream of becoming Featherweight champion of the world. He sleeps in a separate room at home to make sure he gets a proper night’s sleep as he knows any disruptions could hamper his progress, and he has the full support of his girlfriend, along with a great gym where he perfects his art.

“The gym for me is perfect really because we have a good laugh in there as well as training which is solid. We’ve got Jason Rowland, my dad John Smith who’s one of my coaches as well and my manager Richard Clark. Another one of my trainers is Steve O’Shea — he’s just one of the funniest men you’ll ever meet in your life — it’s good having him about. But he’s rough and ready as well. He can be really funny but when we’re in training he can be really tough!  All the boys in the gym — we all bounce off each other. Some days when you’re in training you can feel off, a bit crappy, you know you’re tired sometimes, but then one of the boys will be training really sharp and you sort of bounce off of him and you try and competition him. This keeps everyone performing at their best, really. We’ve got Tony Conquest, Miles Shinkwin who fights on November 1. Also we’ve got Joe Mullinder and Johnny Dignam.”

Next up for Mitchell is the December 15 show at London’s Excel, the biggest arena he would have fought at so far, with anything up to 10,000 expected for Frank Warren’s last event before the year’s out. It would seem this will be Mitchell’s last outing at his current weight division.

“I’m really happy about it. To be boxing on such a massive main event is over whelming. When do you get chances like that? I’m very excited about it. Hopefully I can get a good slot on the bill and there’ll be a good crowd there. I can perform in front of a lot of people, and those people can watch me and hopefully follow me.

“I’m going to make 9 st 4lb because I haven’t made that weight yet. A lot of people have been questioning my weight, as I haven’t made Super Feather weight yet. I’m going to go down to 9st in the future, Featherweight. I’m not a Super Featherweight, I haven’t got the height so I’m heading down a weight as I’m only 5’5.”

Boxing fans looking to obtain tickets for the upcoming London Excel show on December 15th can contact Mitchell Smith’s ticket line on 07584048883.