Buck Smith

Although Smith has never been considered more than a journeyman fighter, he is one of boxing's all-time knockout kings with 120 KOs.

Smith turned professional in 1987 without having ever boxed before. He lost his very first pro fight, when he volunteered from an Oklahoma City audience for a no-show. He fought someone named Ali Smith and received $50 for his troubles. He had 15 minutes to prepare and competed in street shorts and basketball shoes. Despite losing, Buck Smith managed to last the distance and from then on was obsessed with becoming a fighter. After the loss, Smith embarked on a long winning streak, fighting just about every week, albeit against very ordinary opposition in small Midwestern club venues. When questioned on the level of competition he was facing, Smith calmly responded: "I'm not fighting one bum a month, I'm fighting three or four." He would usually drive himself to fights in his red Honda Civic, with his manager (and lone cornerman) riding shotgun. Smith admitted that he used his heavy schedule to his advantage: his theory was that it was better to get paid to fight and beat lesser opponents than to spar against better ones for little or no money.

All in all, Smith is officially credited with having boxed 224 professional boxing matches. Of these he won 179, 120 of them by knockout. He lost 19 and boxed to 2 draws. However, it is possible that Smith had fought even more matches under different names, so it is impossible to truly say how many fights he really had.

Despite his long record, Buck Smith never won any major boxing titles. But while most of wins came against unknown opposition, he did manage a few good results. This included a 7th-round KO over contender and European champion Kirkland Laing (who once beat the legendary Roberto Durán) and a second-round knockout over 1988 Olympic gold medalist Robert Wangila. The win over Wangila got him featured in Ring Magazine, the most prominent of all boxing publications. At the time, Smith sported an official record of 96-2-1 with 70 wins by KO and was ranked 13th at welterweight by the WBC.

He also lost to several former and future champions that included Buddy McGirt, Mark Breland, Julio César Chávez and Antonio Margarito.

It is also notable that Buck Smith once fought twice in one day. On May 19, 1992 he fought Marco Davis in Kansas City and won by KO in two rounds. Less than 3 hours later, he was back in Oklahoma City and won a six-round decision over Rodney Johnson. A similar "iron man stint" by Buck Smith occurred in the month of March in 1993 when Buck Smith fought a total of 12 professional boxing matches. He won all 12, 9 of them by knockout. Such procedures are illegal after the Boxing Reform Act of 1996. By rule, states must honor suspensions, which include a minimum of seven days between bouts.

Smith last fought on June 30, 2007. Fighting far above his best weight, he lost to Marcus Oliveira by second-round KO in a cruiserweight contest. His last win came in a bout with Manuel Esparza against whom he won a 4-round decision in December 1997. That means he did not win a single fight in his last twelve years as a professional boxer. His record stands at 179 wins, 20 losses, 2 draws, and 25 no contests in 226 fights.

Fight fixing allegations

Smith is perhaps best known for his role in the government's attempted crackdown on fight fixing in 2004–2005. Smith, along with colleagues Verdell Smith and Sean Gibbons, were called upon to give testimony on fixed fights. The trio of fighters were nicknamed the Knucklehead Boxing Club, and traveled throughout the Midwest making frequent appearances on fight cards. The Knucklehead Boxing Club denied any wrongdoing and stated that they did not participate in any fixed fights.

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