Dalton Smith: My dad proved the doubters wrong
Dalton Smith says he and his father Grant - a self-employed kitchen-fitter-turned-trainer - have proved the doubters wrong as he prepares to challenge Subriel Matías for the WBC super-lightweight title.
The 28-year-old super-lightweight from Handsworth is now focusing his main attention on his world title challenge on Saturday, January 10.
But the Steel City man recalled how his story began - and how he brushed off negative remarks made about his father - in a podcast conversation with Johnny Nelson.
Smith Jr was five years old when he first walked into a boxing gym; his dad was a full-time joiner. They both became hooked on the sport at the same time.
"As successful as my dad's been as a boxing coach, he never boxed," he told Nelson's That Boxing Show YouTube channel.
"We both learned the trade of boxing together. He was the coaching side, I was the fighting side.
"We worked hard, he studied the game and it came good."
Dalton recalled when his dad started training his first professional, Scott Jenkins, people were in Scott's ear saying "Oh, you can't be with him; he is only a kitchen fitter. He doesn't know what he is doing.'
"It probably got to my dad a little bit as if to say: 'I am going to show you.'"
Now Grant had achieved: "What people said he couldn't do.
"One thing you get with my dad is loyalty, he is not in it for himself. I believe my dad's one of the best coaches to read a fight."
Dalton, who was raised by Grant along with his two sisters, noted that "professional boxing is not a very nice business to be in."
Smith (18-0-0) meets 33-year-old WBC title holder Matias, (23-2-0) from Puerto Rico, at the Barclays Centre, Brooklyn, USA in the New Year.
In terms of a domestic rivalry, the podcast also touched on his likely future battle with 23-year-old IBO world Super Lightweight champion Adam Azim.
"It is a fight that needs to happen...it has got high interest," noted Dalton.
"It is a big fight, I want it, I want to see who's the best fighter."
But Adam is just not ready for that yet, Smith said suggesting Azim's camp wanted to develop him more.
"I was mandatory to fight for his European, that's when he vacated.
"It's business. I want to take his head off just as much as he does with me."
Azim is a mid-range counter puncher and that style would suit him, Smith said.
And the Sheffielder's dream after landing a world championship?
To stage a word title defence at his beloved Sheffield Wednesday, with the Arctic Monkeys playing during the ring walk.