“Marvelous” Mark Smither lived up to his nickname this weekend.
The Barrie resident and professional boxer took to the ring at the CAA Centre in Brampton where he fought his way to a unanimous decision to win the Canadian Super Lightweight title against Paul Ipsas Saturday night.
The win, Smither’s first professional championship title, now brings Smither to 7-0, which keeps him undefeated so far in his professional career.
“I had a good performance Saturday night and we got the title,” he told BarrieToday on Monday, adding the win makes him the first Canadian pro champion for Barrie.
Leading up to Saturday’s fight, Smither admits he was definitely feeling some nerves.
“I was just nervous because I’ve worked so hard for this. I wanted to win it so bad that I was high on the nerves, but I used that to my benefit and I ended up getting the job done,” he said. “All the 15 years of being in the gym… everything just paid off. I’ve never missed a long time from the boxing gym, always trained my hardest and I gave it my best shot… and we came out victorious."
Smither admitted it is a good feeling to know he will be going down in the sports history books with some of the country’s greatest including George Chuvalo and Tommy Burns. The championship belt, he added, is currently on display at Kas Kitchens, where it will stay until he moves into his new home and is able to find the proper place of honour there.
Smither called Ipsas “one hell of a fighter” adding he has nothing but respect for his opponent.
As for what’s next for the new champ, that remains to be seen, however Smither is hoping to bring a fight to Barrie’s Sadlon centre this summer.
