Southpaw featherweight Donald Smith, of Southwest Philadelphia, recently signed a contract to join Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc.
Smith, who turns 26 next week, has won all eight of his pro fights, five by knockout. He returns Saturday evening, March 30, on the world championship fight card at the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia against Jose Antonio Martinez, of Zacatecas, Mexico, in a six-round contest.
Martinez, 35, at 11-17, 6 K0s, is the most experienced opponent yet for Smith, who played football and basketball at West Philadelphia High School.
Smith finds time to train despite holding down a series of jobs. He is a Direct Care Worker at an emergency youth shelter (Forget Me Knot Youth Services) and he is an After Care Worker at Birds of a Feather. He also drives after-school buses. As if he weren’t busy enough, Smith just landed another job, this one as a warehouse worker at Coca Cola.
“It’s amazing he found time to come into our office to sign a contract,” said Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz. “In an era when many fighters want to be pampered, Smith is a breath of fresh air.”
As an amateur, Smith was 61-9 and he boxed in the National Golden Gloves, Junior Olympic Nationals, Silver Gloves Nationals and the USA Open Class Nationals.
Smith enjoys playing basketball and singing.
“He threatened to sing the National Anthem before one of his fights,” Peltz said, “but I had to turn him down on that one…for now.”
A limited amount of Standing-Room-Only tickets went on sale this week at 2300arena.com. The card, which starts at 5.30 pm, is headlined by the World Boxing Council (WBC) light-heavyweight championship fight between champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, of Kharkov, Ukraine, and challenger Doudou Ngumbu, of Kinshasa, Congo.
