Harvey Smith: The British and Commonwealth champion flying under the radar

Harvey Smith: The unpromoted prospect who became British and Commonwealth champion in just nine fights

Harvey Smith has taken one of the toughest routes through British boxing — and after just 24 months as a professional and only nine fights, he is already the British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion.

Managed by Leon Sudbury of Takeover Sports Management, Smith has achieved his success without the backing of a major promoter, without being guided through a protected route and, on more than one occasion, by travelling into his opponent’s territory and getting the job done.

Trained by Kevin Mitchell, Smith’s latest achievement came in Wales, where he defeated Joshua John to capture the prestigious British bantamweight belt.

The victory added the British crown to the Commonwealth title Smith had already won away from home in Scotland, meaning he has now captured two of the most respected titles in British boxing within the space of 12 months.

His professional journey has moved at remarkable speed.

In only nine professional contests, Smith has already challenged for a WBC Youth title, become Commonwealth champion and now become British champion.

But the story goes much deeper than his professional record.

Smith had an outstanding amateur career which, despite his achievements, has largely gone under the radar and has never received the publicity it perhaps deserved. That background has given him the experience and composure to take difficult fights early in his professional career rather than building an artificially protected record.

His manager Leon Sudbury believes Smith’s willingness to take opportunities has been a major factor in his rapid rise.

“Harvey has done this the hard way,” said Sudbury. “There hasn’t been a big promoter behind him, there hasn’t been a huge television platform pushing him and we haven’t gone looking for an easy route. When opportunities have come, Harvey has taken them.”

Smith has also demonstrated something increasingly important in modern professional boxing — the ability to sell tickets and bring supporters with him.

On local shows he can sell around 200 tickets, while more than 100 supporters travelled to Scotland for his Commonwealth title challenge and approximately 100 travelled to Wales to see him compete for the British title.

Those numbers have been achieved without the marketing machine of one of Britain’s major promotional organisations.

Sudbury added: “The support he gets is unbelievable. To take more than 100 people to Scotland and then around another 100 to Wales shows that people genuinely want to follow Harvey. He has built that himself.”

Despite Smith already holding two major titles, the team around him has no intention of rushing the next stage of his career.

The priority is development and longevity.

“People look at Harvey and see British and Commonwealth champion, but we still see a young fighter who is developing,” said Sudbury.

“He hasn’t fully matured yet and there is a lot more improvement to come. We want to build him properly, keep progressing him at the right pace and give him a long career.”

“The objective isn’t to rush him into the biggest fight available just because he has these belts. We want every fight to have a purpose and eventually get him to world level when he is genuinely ready to compete there and stay there.”

For a fighter only two years into his professional career, Smith has already achieved what many boxers spend an entire career chasing.

British champion.

Commonwealth champion.

Nine professional fights.

And, remarkably, he has done it without a major promoter behind him.

The next chapter could be the biggest yet.