After sore defeat in frustrating year Kieran Smith excited for future with MTK Global

The 28-year-old has fresh motivation to keep all his hard work going with an overall disappointing year ending at least on a positive note. A first professional defeat to Troy Williamson in April has been followed by a period of inactivity and then a split with his former management and promotional team MTK Global.

Instead, the former WBC International Silver super-welterweight champion (16-1) has thrown his lot in with Glasgow-based Kynoch Boxing, is set to sign a contract with boxing channel Fightzone to have his fights streamed and will also step up to middleweight to see what challenges await him in the 160lb division.

“It’s a fresh start for me so I’m excited about this move,” he said. “MTK are a massive company and look after a lot of people and I just felt that I wasn’t busy enough. Basically, I wasn’t getting fights.

“My contract was up with them and I had a look at what else was out there. I spoke to Kynoch and felt that was the best offer for me.

“I’ve been impressed with what Sam Kynoch has done for them. You just have to look at other fighters in the stable like Hannah Rankin and Nathaniel Collins winning titles and I want to get on that same path.

“I’ve also signed a deal with Dennis Hobson to appear on Fightzone so that gives me a platform and I know now that I’m guaranteed fights.

“I was at their outdoor event at Hamilton in the summer. It wasn’t busy enough I felt but they still made it happen which was a new development in Scottish boxing. If they do it again next summer then I’d definitely be up for that.

“Sam asked me to move up to middleweight and I think it will suit me better. I was taking too much out of my body to keep fighting at super-welter. I was taking muscle mass off to make the weight so middleweight takes that pressure off.

“I can’t see me going back to super-welter again. If anything I feel there will be more opportunities for me at middleweight. Once we get the ball rolling I’m confident a lot of doors will open for me.”

The Williamson defeat remains a sore point but the man known as Chopper hopes lessons have been learned ahead of his next outing, which he is planning for February.

“Of course losing that fight got me down but I was honest with myself and knew that he had caught me with a belter of a shot,” he reflected. “It was an absolute nailer and sometimes that can happen at any level.

“I was gutted at the time but I didn’t let it get to me too much once I had got over that initial disappointment. I had no doubts about my ability going into that fight and put everything on the line. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“I had hoped to get busy with another fight over the summer or in the autumn but there was a zero per cent chance of that ever happening. The months ticked by and I wasn’t getting any response.

“I kept my training up throughout it all just in case but it wasn’t to be. But I’m hoping having signed with Kynoch I’ll be back out early in the new year. And there will be lessons learned from that Williamson defeat, no doubt.

“I had been out of the ring for 17 months before that fight and it just shows you the importance of keeping busy and making sure you’re as active as you can be at all times.”

The most appealing aspect of this new arrangement for the Greenrigg southpaw is that he will have greater structure to his career. And simply knowing what lies ahead is a comforting new development.

“I used to train consistently all the time but just never knew when I would be fighting,” adds Smith, a personal trainer in his day job. “It was just a case of waiting for something to be announced.

“Now I have a platform with Fightzone and Sam. Once I get the ball rolling in February, we’ll look at dates as I’m guaranteed four fights a year. And then I can plan everything else around those. That’s something I’ve never had before. So this new arrangement gives me my life back in a way, too, and that gives you greater peace of mind.”