Callum Smith topples double world champion

An entertaining finals session of a Four Nations tournament took place at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport yesterday afternoon, the highlight of which, from a Team GB perspective, was at 69kg where Callum Smith defeated two-time world champion Sapiyev Serik of Kazakhstan.

The other nations involved were China and France and as fans of small hall professional boxing will know, with Mike Goodall acting as MC there was much scope for the mangling of the names of our visitors. In fact, he only made one rick all day though it was a vintage one as in the introductions he mistook Kazakhstan for Kurdistan.

The day also confirmed for me that, if the scoring on the day was accurate, at least half the time I have absolutely no idea what I’m looking at, despite following the sport very closely for 25 years. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same as me when watching amateur contests on television, whereby you see a fighter land every punch of a combination very clearly and not register a single point; on the other hand a fighter seems to do nothing and a couple of points are mysteriously added. Watching this way, your reading of the contest is dismantled in instalments but at ringside yesterday, the first indication viewers got of the scoring was when the verdict was announced.

I had Smith, Tom Stalker and particularly Andrew Selby all getting beat. They won by margins of 12-4, 10-9 and 9-7 respectively. Of the nine weight finals contested, GB were represented in seven of them and won five which must be a very positive indicator for the continued success of the programme based at this wonderful facility and led by Head Coach Robert McCracken.

Selby took on China’s national champion Jaiwei Zhang at 54kg and I thought the two-time European bronze medallist had a poor day at the office and was a clear second. In the professional game I would have scored this 30-27 (all bouts were three three-minute rounds) though I’m aware things are very different in the unpaid ranks. Zhang was on the front foot throughout and turned Selby nicely in a corner in the first round before landing a straight right. Selby was moving nicely but, to my untrained eye, not really landing much at all. Zhang was missing a fair bit but had success with a left in the second.

In the final round, Selby landed a nice right hand before slipping in a corner. He was playing it cool, perhaps because he knew he was leading –there can be no other explanation for his lack of concern. Zhang got through with a couple of tasty lefts before Selby finished with a right. I thought our representative had been knocked about a bit but, regardless, he came away with a 9-7 win.

Stalker’s contest at 60kg against Kazakhstan’s Bashenov Samat was a close affair and the Team GB captain was given a 10-9 verdict. The opener was a close one with the visitor certainly more aggressive. Again, perhaps Stalker was informed he was ahead after the first and once in front, it’s difficult to peg back a boxer of his class. Stalker landed a good right hook in the second; Samat responded with a left hook and a straight right which knocked Stalker’s head back and drew cheers from the Kazakh contingent. Samat looked quite heavy handed and was prepared to take some to land his own.

Samat must have known he was down going into the last and he chased Stalker all session, with some success, particularly with the straight right. He didn’t go quite enough though and Stalker knew it.

“He’s the best kid I’ve boxed,” said Callum Smith after the best win of his amateur career, “but I thought it was closer than that.” I was miles out with my interpretation of the fight and had it been announced 12-4 the other way to Sapiyev Serik, I wouldn’t have been surprised, though I can't see too many people agreeing with me.

One massive advantage in Smith’s favour was the incredibly tight guard he kept along with the discipline necessary to prevent being taken apart by the world champ. Getting out of the blocks is a huge advantage in the amateur code and Smith scored early with two smart, right hand counters. Serik was on the front foot throughout but was finding it very difficult to create openings.

Smith’s attacks were infrequent though he again landed a left counter. I felt Serik was beginning to control the contest in the second half of this round as Smith began ‘falling in’ to his opponent. The Kazakh became very frustrated with what he saw as Smith’s inactivity in the final session and showed contempt for his opponent by dropping his hands (he barely took a guard for the last three minutes) and whacking his own head, trying to get Smith out of his shell. He was warned about this provocation after the third attempt.

Serik did all the work and, I thought, managed to land a few scoring punches whereas Smith restricted himself to the occasional jab – he didn’t throw much but must have been rewarded for almost every one. A fantastic win for the youngest boxer in the Smith family which should boost his confidence immensely - he must be a live medal favourite for the Commonwealths.

The best bout of the day was a ‘supporting contest’ (i.e. not a final) between GB’s Frank Buglioni and French national champ Chevas Stephane. This time I felt the score, 21-18 to Buglioni, was certainly a fair reflection of a fantastic scrap in which both men gave their all. Stephane enjoyed raucous support from his team mates but it didn’t quite help him over the line, not for the want of trying.

Buglioni (beaten 6-5 in Saturday’s semi by eventual winner, the impressive hitter Tavares Nichel of France) looks like he can crack and had Stephane on very shaky legs in the second, forcing referee Miki Basi to issue a standing eight. After the cat and mouse and/or scrappy nature of some of the previous contests, the blood and thunder of the third round between this pair was a pleasing contrast. Some big, meaty hooks were exchanged and, for once, attack from both was prioritised as the contest was in the balance.

Another accurate card for me was the show closer, Dycho Ivan’s 7-2 win over a rather uninspired Amin Isa of Team GB at 91kg+. It was a rather tepid affair and the cleaner and more noticeable work came from Kazakhstan’s former World Junior silver medallist, including a couple of nice, overhand rights in the second. Isa was trying but not really getting anywhere.

One thing the pro sport can learn from the amateur code is the efficiency of this promotion. Everything ran like clockwork with no needless frustrating gaps. A very pleasant afternoon’s viewing and one picked up on the positive atmosphere which ran through the home team’s set up.