‘In my head I'm just thinking get him out of there’: Callum Smith on the night he came of age
The 28-year-old made a mockery of the odds in dismantling George Groves last month to become the most talked-about super-middleweight champion on the planet. Declan Taylor went to meet him
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Your support makes all the difference.Callum Smith sat in silence with a grin on his face, his pregnant partner dozing by his side and his finger on the rewind button.
Nearly four days had passed since he became the most talked-about super-middleweight champion on the planet but only now was he able to watch exactly how he did it.
“Everything was such a whirlwind after the fight that I didn't get a chance to see any of it apart from a few clips on Instagram,” says Smith, sporting none of the usual lumps or bumps which often come from a world title fight.
“But on the Monday night it was just me and my missus at home. She asked if I wanted to watch it but I said just put a film on or something. Deep down I wanted to watch it.
“Anyway she stuck the fight on and then fell asleep. Watching it back, it was actually quite boring. No wonder she nodded off.”
His assessment might be overly harsh of a tentative and tactical clash with experienced reigning champion George Groves and his challenger from Liverpool, untested at that level and clear underdog with the bookmakers.
But the 28-year-old made a mockery of the odds, dismantling Groves with a savage seventh-round assault which left him on the crumpled heap in his own corner of the Saudi Arabian ring.
“I remember at the time feeling quite comfortable, it was easier than I expected and I wasn't having to do too much. I always felt like I could step it up. I didn't realise how composed I was at the finish. At the time I just thought I was windmilling in.
"In my head I'm just thinking 'get him out of there'. So much was going through my head at the time – 'if you don't get him here, he could come back and beat you and you will have to live with that until the day you die'.
“But watching it back I'm throwing, pausing, picking my shots. I was pleased with it because I thought I was just f***ing swinging from my ankles.
“So watching it back I'm just sat there in silence grinning to myself. I rewound it a few times but she's just snoring on the couch. It's nice to watch. I don't like watching long, 12-round fights, they're boring. I think I'll always look back on round seven.”
He will also look back on 2018 as the year he came of age. As the youngest of Liverpool's famous four boxing brothers comprised of him, Paul (35), Stephen (33) and Liam (30), Callum has perhaps always been considered a kid in boxing terms generally.
Now 28 years old, with a perfect 25-0 record and status as a legitimate world champion, 'Mundo' has well and truly shaken off that moniker. Amazingly, he is also the eldest of all the champions in the 12st division with WBC champion David Benavidez just 21, while Gilberto Ramirez (WBO) and Jose Uzcategui (IBF) are both 27.
“I'm not the kid anymore,” Smith says. “With everything that has happened this year I've definitely come of age. I was first made mandatory for the title over two years ago. I believe I would have won it back then but I've matured inside and outside the ring since.”
Which brings us back to his snoozing partner, Kim, who is due to give birth to their first child on January 21.
No sooner had Smith touched down in the UK as the winner of his biggest fight and the proud new owner of the WBA title, the coveted Ring Magazine belt and the Muhammad Ali Trophy, did he have equally pressing matters at home.
“As soon as my fight was done, the day I got home, she said 'let's go to Mothercare',” he says with a smile. “I couldn't really say no. I'd just won the world title and I'm standing there looking at prams. I didn't have it in me to say 'well I'm not going to be pushing it anyway!' I just said 'yep, get whatever one you want.'
“All the prams looked the same to me. I'd say 'yeah, it's nice', then she'd say 'well what about this one?' It's not like it's a car is it? They're alright, yeah. They do a job, sound.”
The relatively imminent arrival will preclude Smith from making the first defence of his title until spring time at the earliest. For now he wants to immerse himself in the idea of fatherhood having shut himself off from it during camp.
“I'm really looking forward to it now,” he says. “It was hard because when we found out, I still had this fight on my mind. In camp I couldn't wait for the fight to be out of the way so I could focus on becoming a dad. I'm looking forward to it now, even being sent to the garage at two in the morning for her cravings.
“We haven't found out whether it's a boy or a girl. It's going to be a nice surprise. I don't mind either way, I'm not fussed.
“My head has just been 'Groves, Groves, Groves' for months now so I want to just switch off for a bit and think about normal day-to-day stuff.
“But I don't get paid paternity leave in this trade so I'll be back training by February time.”
The increase in stadium fights over recent years has opened the door to a possible homecoming show at Anfield in the future. A showdown with Gennady Golovkin should he decide to move up from middleweight has been mooted while unifications with any of the other champions would also do decent business in Smith's home town.
It's enough to ensure his career can move on from his first defining night, which took place 4,000 miles away in Jeddah.
“It was as good as I always imagined,” he reflects. “But it is kind of an anticlimax at the same time. I have worked so hard at it for so long, I can't really accept that it's done. It's like 'ok, so what now?' I still wake up in the morning and think I'm chasing something when really I'm not. I've done it, it's a strange feeling.
“Thankfully I still have things I want to achieve so I can just set more goals. Now I want to unify, I want to have big fights and then one day move up and become a two-weight world champion. I'd love to fight in America – Vegas – I'd love to fight at Anfield. All that means I'm still chasing something every day.
"I don't want to be forever rewinding the Groves fight because I want to have loads of others to watch too."
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