Street fighting roots lead to boxing career

Terry "Troublemaker" Smith began his flight path Down Under to a professional boxing match in Christchurch after being embroiled in a street fight as a teenager.

The now veteran American heavyweight from Little Rock, Arkansas, will take on New Zealander Shane Cameron for his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental belts in Christchurch tomorrow night.

This week Smith recounted with a laugh how his boxing career had an unlikely beginning when he "got into an altercation over a girl I was dating at the time".

"A guy tried to pull her into a car. Somebody came and told me what they were doing."

When Smith came out on the street he found he was dealing not just with the original offender, but four of his offsiders as well.

"So I finally got her loose and then I fought against all five of them.

"And then after that when the police showed up, instead of arresting me, he took me down to a boxing gym."

Policeman Craig Hodgins was obviously impressed with Smith's ability to win a five-on-one fight.

That was the start of a long boxing career for the then 19-year-old who has now clocked up 36 professional fights accounting for 186 rounds.

Even so he started fighting competitively pretty late in both ranks of pugilism, as an amateur at 24 and a professional at 30.

His first sporting love was American football and that occupied his attention for a while.

"At the time I had a chance to go to college to play football .... but then when that didn't happen boxing opened up the door for me to be a professional."

Now 37, Smith was looking as though fitness should not be a problem for him in the Saturday night fight, comfortably taking in an extensive workout under the sharp direction of his trainer Richard "Dickie" Wood.

So how many years of pro boxing did he have left? "As long I feel like doing it because I've got a strong work ethic," Smith said.

He intimated some boxers were their "own worse enemy" and stayed on past their time.

"But I've been in the game long enough to know when to quit and when to keep going."

Smith has fought some of the world's best heavyweights, going the distance with Jameel McCline, Calvin Brock and Rob Calloway.

McCline and Brock have fought for versions of the world title, the former having four attempts at the heavyweight crown, decking Nigerian Samuel Peter three times in their bout.

The "Troublemaker" rated the July 21, 2006 meeting with McCline as definitely his toughest fight.

"We fought 10 rounds, I lost the decision to him, but I felt I was in the fight and everything like that and was real aggressive to pull off the win."

He suggested McCline had the advantage of "having the bigger name, the bigger limelight, and (having) fought for championships before.

"I was still trying to get my name out there and everything like that. Didn't nobody know me so I didn't get...".

There was also the matter of giving away 20kg in weight and 10cm height.

If Little Rock, Arkansas, rings a non-boxing bell, it was home to former state governor and United States president William Jefferson Clinton.

So was Smith the second-most famous person to come out of Little Rock? "There's Bill Clinton; you've got Jermain Taylor the ex (world) middleweight champion and a lot of other good people who came out of Arkansas," he said.

"But I'm ready to put my name on that list as well."

He's on the list, and basketball fans might add former Canterbury Ram and New Zealand Breaker Clifton Bush sen.

Smith says he has indeed met the ex-pres.

"He's come to a number of me and Jermain's fights."

Smith said his team did not know too much about his New Zealand opponent until the fight was made, but they have since been perusing videos of some of Cameron's previous fights.

"I looked at a lot of it just to see how he shoots his punches, from different angles and everything like that.

"Like I said, he's a very good athlete, I respect him to the utmost and everything like that."

But he did not rate Cameron's chances too highly of knocking him out. "Everybody else has tried and failed. I'm not saying it can't happen, but most likely it won't."

Far from a brash American, Smith still talked up the fight in an interview with Maori TV, saying he was in great shape and it would last until his opponent "takes as much punishment as he wants to take".

- © Fairfax NZ News