North Texas Fisticuffs visited the gym where Larry “Slomoshun” Smith (10-5, 7KO’s) from Big “D” Dallas, Texas where he was in his final preparation before his big fight in Las Vegas on Friday night as the co-main event. He will step into the ring against the southpaw Felix Diaz (9-0, 6KO’s), a two-time Olympic champion, who won the Gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. This Dominican southpaw fighter turned pro in 2009 and has fought all over the world. Despite being only one inch over five feet, he has an undefeated record and has his sights on being a world champion. But Smith has different plans for his opponent.
Slomoshun Smith from Dallas Texas also turned pro in 2009, and prior to that he was a former Golden Gloves and Black Gloves outstanding amateur boxer. He actually started fighting when he was only five years old. So he is no stranger to the ring. The confident Smith told me what separates him from other boxers is his confidence going into the ring. He told me a story of when at the age of fourteen he fought in the Golden Gloves before a big crowd. When he saw the crowd he said he had no butterflies and he was not nervous at all. That confidence he had at a young age has stayed with him ever since and has followed him into his professional career.
Smith was a former football and basketball player and he also ran track in High School. It was playing football where he got his nickname “Slomoshun.” James Finnell, his football coach noticed how he would run, sometimes in a tiptoe fashion through defenders and then he would make a sudden burst for a long run. His running appeared that he was momentarily going in slow motion, thus the name “Slomoshun.” He spelled the name differently on purpose. A former college student at Texas Southern and a licensed barber, among other things, Smith has a total of seven brother and sisters, some from Florida and as far as New York.
Both fighters are coming off knockout wins over their opponents and both have almost identical knockout records. So get ready to see some heavy and hard punches from the beginning to the end of the fight. The taller Smith will have a slight advantage in height over his opponent, but he knows that he will be in for a tough fight. He plans to use his reach and his height as well as all his boxing skills to win the fight. He has been training very hard for this fight and specifically for the last three weeks. His trainer is the experienced Greg Hatley, Sr., a well known boxing trainer and promoter in the Dallas Fort Worth Area.
Smith told northtexasfisticuffs that he plans on putting alot of pain on Diaz and that he is going to show Vegas that he is one of the many talented fighters from Dallas, Texas. He said he wanted to tell his fans that he will put on a spectacular fight for them and that he will be victorious or beat Diaz to a bloody pulp. He said he is tired of losing close decisions and he is ready to put on a spectacular show. He is ready to fight the entire eight rounds if necessary, and that he is “guaranteeing” a win for all his fans here in Dallas, Texas.
The fight, which is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions will be held the day before the Mayweather/Ortiz fight on September 16. It will be televised by TeleFutura’s “Sólo Boxeo,” and will also air live on Fox Sports Network from the Dallas Events Center in the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The TeleFutura broadcast begins at 11:30pm ET/PT and the Fox Sports Net broadcast will begin at 10:30pm ET/7:30pm PT. The main event will be top heavyweight contender Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell (22-0-1, 16 KOs) who will take on Hector Ferreryro (21-10-2, 12 KOs) in a 10-round match.
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