Given only seven days separate Dalton Smith’s last fight and Adam Azim’s next fight, one could be forgiven for thinking the two British junior welterweights are getting ever closer to sharing a ring.
Even if the truth is that mere scheduling and coincidence has brought them close on this occasion, it cannot be denied that having them fight within seven days of each other begets more of the kind of comparisons we have endured for some time. Already, in fact, Azim has been asked to comment on Smith’s last performance, a first-round stoppage of Walid Ouizza, and already Smith has been asked if he has any interest in Azim’s fight this Saturday against Sergey Lipinets. Neither, when asked, were exactly enthused.
Distracted, if anything, Azim and Smith, despite their proximity, and despite the lip service of garrulous promoters, are no closer to fighting than they were this time last year. Not only that, the more they both progress and pick up belts, the more inclined they become to ignore their domestic rival altogether and instead lose themselves in the red tape and politics of sanctioning bodies, rankings, and trinkets. Smith, for instance, was on Saturday quick to mention his desire to upgrade his WBC silver title to one of the gold variety following his stoppage of Ouizza. “See how this belt’s silver?” he said in the ring, pointing at it. “I’m hoping Mauricio’s (Sulaiman, WBC President) watching tonight because the next fight I want to turn this silver into a gold.”
There was at that stage no mention of Azim, and why should there be? As far as Smith was concerned, he had done his job – beating Ouizza in style – and now had his sights set on bigger fights and tougher tests. That Azim, his rival, would represent both those things, and that Azim used to hold the European title Smith also wore around his waist, had no bearing on Smith’s thought process at that moment. There were, to his mind, easier fights to make and easier fights to win.
“He’s not defined by Adam Azim,” Frank Smith of Matchroom, Smith’s promoter, told BoxingScene post-fight. “That question has been around a long time with Adam Azim. He is a great fighter. We’ve seen improvements with him, obviously, but I just think Dalton’s on another level. The performances he’s put in, the fights he’s been involved in… Also, I feel for Dalton in some ways because he’s never been the one who’s turned away from that fight. It’s always been Adam Azim. It’s never been Dalton Smith. It’s not about Adam Azim; it’s about putting on showreel knockouts like that for himself, to keep him at the front of people’s minds. Time and time again he delivers performances like that.”
Smith, now 17-0 (13), has every right to believe his career amounts to more than just a single domestic rivalry. Indeed, to fight Azim, 12-0 (9), would not have been the Sheffield man’s goal when first turning pro, nor will a win over Azim, at this current juncture, represent in the final analysis Smith’s greatest achievement – not when both junior welterweights are still relatively new to all this. Maybe, in that respect, it represents an unnecessary risk; a reminder to us all that a boxer’s success often hinges as much on who they decide not to fight during the ascent as it does on who they do elect to fight.
The same goes for Azim, of course. He, like Smith, knows the potential upside of giving fans exactly what they want, but is just as aware of the importance of timing and how something mistimed, be it a punch, a defensive move, or a fight, can be detrimental to a boxer’s career.
It is for this reason both he and Smith continue to take shots – verbal jabs, if you will – from a relatively safe distance. They are thrown at press conferences and in interviews and they are thrown out of range, with seven days between the throwing of them and the landing.
“The majority of people didn’t know who his opponent was,” Azim said of Smith’s win against Ouizza. “I had to search it out. But Dalton got the job done. I thought he boxed really well in the first round. Can’t really get anything from that, but it keeps our fight marinating.”
For boxing fans, the term “marinating” sends a shiver up the collective spine, for it is a phrase we have all heard too many times before. It is a phrase we associate not with a well-cooked dish served to perfection, but instead disappointment and regret. It is a phrase often used as a synonym for “delay” or simply “don’t hold your breath”. It usually means something will end up being overcooked or burned entirely; thrown away thereafter.
Just as alarming was this quote from Azim: “When I do beat Lipinets, then I’ll be like: ‘Look, my level is above you, Dalton.’”
That line, fed to Sky Sports ahead of Saturday’s fight, reflects on the one hand both Azim’s competitiveness and his desire to fight better opponents than the ones Smith is currently fighting. Yet it also adds credence to the idea that fighters, especially young ones, sometimes prefer to do their boasting behind the comfort of common opponents rather than by actually going and grabbing bragging rights at source; that is, from the rival they are seemingly content to poke and prod from afar. Here, in the case of Azim and Smith, you have two talented British boxers flirting with each other from different rooms, each taking it in turn to pass notes via a mutual friend in the hope their suitor receives the note. You have a lot of empty words and a lot of wasted time and eventually the gap between them must be breached for the truth to be revealed. A win over Sergey Lipinets, for example, may prove that Adam Azim is a better fighter than Sergey Lipinets – specifically this 35-year-old version – but it will give us no indication as to how Azim compares with Dalton Smith – not really. In order to know that, we must see them put an end to all the flirting and actually summon the courage to express themselves to each other; same room, same ring, same goal. Otherwise, they are just using dalliances with other people to incite jealousy, a dynamic which tends to leave everybody involved more frustrated than satisfied.
Read the full article here
