I give you Mr Paul Smith, part time boxer, part time English teacher

Sometimes as a writer it's fun to communicate with people that you write about. I've often enjoyed the brilliance of Twitter for such activities, of course my Ringnews24 piece “Audley Harrison The Mighty Twitter Warrior” is one of the most fun and amusing pieces I've done. Though sometimes you realise your opinion on someone flips 180 after talking to them for a while. They go from being someone you were behind to someone you want to see fail. A recent series of conversations with British boxer Paul Smith has been one of those cases.

Smith, from Liverpool, has a record of 29-2 (15) and I'd actually been behind him from when I first heard about him. His appearance on “The Contender” was short lived though he had shown his heart and was exciting, it further concreted my feelings that he was one to keep an eye on. Brave, hard working and the type of fighter that is genuinely good to watch. Though his actions after a fight last year in which his brother took a controversial decision against Scottish fighter John Simpson raised some questions about him. He acted like a bit of a tit to be frank. Though I gave him a pass, his brother had just won the biggest fight of his career in front of a pro-Scottish crowd and it was a reason to be emotional. My support was right behind him when he faced James DeGale, I actually backed him on all the PL's I was a part of and really wanted him to shut DeGale up. He had talked the talk going into the fight, seemed confident and was far more experienced than DeGale. Then it became obvious that he didn't deserve to be in the ring with DeGale. Smith took a 29-1 record into that fight against the 8-0 DeGale, it was a shock however that DeGale just abused him in the ring. It wasn't that DeGale was just quicker and more skilled, but he was stronger, his shots left more of an effect. It was Smith that was made to look like the rank novice.

Since the loss to DeGale Smith has been out of the ring, that's 3 months with out a fight and with none lined up we're unsure when he will be making a return. Maybe DeGale did more than just beat him in the ring but broke his fighting spirit. Maybe it was just a beating but quite possibly more. Smith was toyed with in front of his own fans in Liverpool and it must have been embarrassing to be handled so easily by a novice pro.

When asked recently by Ringnews24.com over twitter as to whether he would want to do an interview he showed the nasty arrogant side, the side that had been shown in Glasgow when his his brother “robbed” John Simpson. He failed to actually say “no” and instead accused the sites admin of being a drunk before going on to give “English lessons” over twitter, correcting grammar, which actually went down to pointing out a space before a comma is wrong. We can see from the twitter conversation excerpts below just silly Paul's lessons got:

“you don't leave spaces before commas , like that. Also CAPITALS help. Yet another whopper with a laptop posing as a writer.”

-We can see the irony here, no capital to start the sentence whilst capitals appear as a point of emphasis in the middle of a sentence. Mr. Smith, this isn't correct, you should know this.

“If you think your grammar is correct, and you expect people to read your site/articles then you're madder than I first thought!”

-Again pointing out grammar errors over twitter seems pointless but lets see his 3^rd point regardless.

“drink & debate don't mix. Especially when you expect people to take your opinion seriously! We'll see come April 27th. And NEW!”

-Again the irony of capitals Mr. Smith. It should be a capital “D” for “drink”, the “And” is a conjunction so there is no need for the full stop or the capital and “NEW!” should be “new!”. See this is easy.

But hey lets carry on this lesson, I'm starting to feel intelligent correcting someone else grammar.

“advertising on what exactly? Vie got more followers than that site itself! It's hardly popular. Like I said, wannabe writers.”

Again Mr. Smith, come on, get your capitals right. Also what is “Vie”? You may indeed have more followers than a site though that would probably come down to you being more famous than a fledgling site. Is twitter a popularity contest?

“as for PR if that's kidding the bollocks off loyal fans and sugar coating things then yes, it's not my strong point.”

Again missing the capital. Though this was in reply to his reaction when asked about an interview in which he was going to be able to express his opinion and tell boxing fans what he's been up to since the loss to DeGale and what fans were to expect from his return. If he honestly feels that's sugar coating, then it's a shame that he's taken so many to the head that he's showing signs of brain damage or lack of comprehension skills.

Anyway with this done I'd like to wish John Simpson all the best in knocking Stephen Smith out on April 27 live on Sky Sports 1. It's time the record was set straight and this time with out the controversial decision that marred their first fight. Better yet, like when DeGale beat Paul, this will be in front of more Liverpudlians at the Olympia.

As is obvious the above is all opinion and I'm not an actual doctor. I have the opinion that if someone thinks an interview is "sugar coating" then their is something wrong with them. I am entitled to such an opinion, just like someone is entitled to the opinion that I am a "wanker", that the Ringnews24.com staff member was a "drunk".

EDIT:
A new post by Mr. Smith
"Gotta love when people print lies about you too and try and twist the truth. More to the point, you gotta love libel cases!"

He can try the libel case but I never actually lied, again it's a statement of "opinion", if he doesn't understand this then thats his problem, not mine. Though thank you paul for the free publicity. As are his claims of "drunk" and "wanker", obviously Mr. Smith loves irony.


Edit part 2:
Paul recently tweeted:
" My opinion is that God exists, Diana was murdered and Aliens exist - but that doesn't make them FACTS. Your Scott is a liar..."

Now again this is a "fair comment", this doesn't make him a liar, and neither does my opinion that if he doesn't understand being asked to do an interview isn't sugar coating things. Maybe I will change my opinion to him actually showing signs of that damage, rather than just insulting his intelligence. Anyone who believes that Diana was murdered is a bit weird anyway...;-)

Final edit:
I recently found an article with a quote from Smith in which he called James DeGale an idiot, seems rather apt that he's happy to throw around insults but if others do it he threatens legal action with no foot to stand on. Also my preview on Stephen Smith v Jon Simpson II is now on hubpages.