Dalton Smith vs Sam Maxwell: Boxing That Worked

The Rough With The Smooth

Boxing fans have learned to take it. Some of us enjoy it, judging how much it’s on boxing podcasts. It’s the stuff that makes us shake our heads.

The Tyson Fury will-he-won’t-he coquettish opponent dance

The heavyweight slow cranking up to matches we know we want

The Conor Benn drug testing furore still rumbling on

The Benn v Eubank Jr fight made again despite the furore being better than the fight

And the scoring issues, bad undercards, and lack of care for boxers in later life, are all live issues for boxing.

But let’s have a bit of sun; we have Terrence ‘Bud’ Crawford facing Errol Spence, a fight fans really wanted and the heavyweight picture is looking tasty.

Plus we’ve had some fine fights in the recent past too. And there’s…

DAZN

Will you please stop grousing about DAZN? OK, let’s allow one. I have a monthly subscription and I’m not best pleased that DAZN will ask me to pay for Pay Per View fights, not even at a cheaper subscription-enhanced offer.

That aside, this platform, which also contains Impact wrestling which I watch occasionally, would be worth it just for boxing. Why?

There’s so much of it. And please, podcasters, stop whining about wanting to see the best fights, the biggest fights, as if they come along every week. If boxing stopped until there were big fights, there would be no boxing; DAZN accepts there are other fights that can be made, which enables me to enjoy the boxing fix I want and see boxers I might not have known about before.

So stop. Please. Stop the wariness around the subscription model. Stop the dislike of Eddie Hearn, a ‘roll up, roll up’ boxing promoter whose act I really enjoy.

It’s a different offer. Please don’t be frightened.

Dalton Smith v Sam Maxwell

This wasn’t one of those make-weight fights. This was a unification fight – that’s what people are crying out for these days – the British super lightweight title was involved and Sam Maxwell had a chance.

But not for long once Dalton Smith began his work. Maxwell looked increasingly concerned as Smith regularly stepped to the left and landed an overhand right.

He added an uppercut to that right early on which made Maxwell think and although some shots got through to Smith, like a right hand in the 3rd stanza, the champ was able to keep his feet planted and stay in front of Maxwell.

There was a reason why Smith’s trainer Dad Grant told him it was brilliant between the 4th and 5th rounds; because it was. He named patience as the reason, but there was more than that.

Even when an accidental clash of heads (Grant moving to the left, Maxwell to the right) caused a nasty gash above the champ’s eye, he simply moved up a gear to try to finish it, using his movement and fast hands to get in and out quickly, Maxwell resorting to punching on the break and being spoken to by the ref.

As Smith told the Liverpool Echo;

‘But I smelt blood and thought, ‘This is where I turn it up’. I needed critics asking me if I was that good, and I needed Sam to bring this out of me.’

The KO Will Be The Talking Point

And it was uncomfortable to watch, but even before then, in the previous round, Maxwell’s legs had buckled from a rather rangy uppercut.

The KO in the 7th was incontrovertible, a right through the middle, that step to the left and that overhand right on the temple.

Maxwell fell heavily.

Should We Be Celebrating A Concussive Punch?

🥶 #SmithMaxwell pic.twitter.com/l3mOO55Dbb

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) July 2, 2023

Well no and neither did Smith, who stopped the cheers to check on Maxwell. Medical staff checked and he walked from the ring.

One of the dichotomous elements of boxing is that fans want to see knockdowns and knockouts, yet we of course have concern for those who have been knocked out. But this fight was more than that. Much more.

And great fights can happen anywhere, can’t they?