On Friday Night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Salita Promotions presents “Big Time Boxing USA,” which features a card filled with young up-and-coming prospects that look to be tomorrow’s contenders. One of those fighters is 24-year-old middleweight prospect Da’Velle Smith (9-0, 7 KOs), who takes on Abel Nicolas Adriel (27-29-3, 6 KOs). Smith has learned early on about myths of the sport, respecting the levels of his opponents and juggling the real-life responsibilities of being a father and future husband.
Boxing Was A Perfect Match From The Start
Smith, from Inkster, MI, did not have a huge amateur background, but he made the time he spent in boxing’s farm system count—the journey to becoming a pro started at 8 when he began to fight out of Detroit. While learning the basics as a child, Smith worked alongside super featherweight Erick De Leon (20-0-1, 12 KOs), who was making a ton of noise as a teenager throughout the Detroit area. Being around De Leon motivated Smith, and just like that, he had his first fighter to look up to, someone who would ultimately indirectly helped him go down the path of becoming a pro.
“When I first started boxing, the first really good boxer I was around was Erick De Leon,” said Smith. “I wanted to be just like this guy. He was amazing. He would go to every gym and smash every opponent. At the time, he won like one or two Golden Glove tournaments, and he was like 16-17 years old. This dude was my idol, and I wanted to be just like him. I ended up training with his same coaches, and I wanted to be really good like Erick.
“At first, I was losing a lot. I really wanted to win, so I locked in and went harder. I won my first tournament when I was nine, and after getting that first belt, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Reality Began To Settle In
Smith’s desire to become a full-time fighter led him to become a pro in 2021. Although he was eager to fight as a pro, some myths quickly turned into smoke and vanished that year. He had to learn two specific things quickly, and one is a lesson that fighters are still learning today. “Finances! I thought when you turned pro in boxing, you would instantly be rich. That’s not the case (laughs). Another thing is levels. There are definitely levels to this. I came in thinking I could get in there with the best fighters and dominate. That’s definitely not the case. There are levels to this, and you gotta put the work in.”
While learning lessons as a fighter, Smith also had to learn on the job to be a father and juggle both things like most parents do when they have children. That could be challenging [being a family man and a fighter] but Smith tries to bring the two together so that the struggle isn’t as bad. “I do things like bring my family to camps with me,” said Smith. “Sometimes, I bring my family to the gym with me so they can see the hard work that I put in. It definitely translates to home. My son is one and will watch a 12-round boxing fight with me and throw punches with his boxing gloves. It’s a beautiful thing to have support from my fiancée and from my family to keep me going in this boxing world.”
The Ambitions Of A Young Fighter
On Friday night in Puerto Rico, Smith is going into his fight against Adriel, oozing with confidence. He said that he feels no pressure with the fight being streamed worldwide on DAZN and that he looks to keep his “tunnel” vision blocking out any unnecessary noise while traveling on his journey to a title one day which continues on Friday night. With that said, what will fans say when they walk out of the Coca-Cola Music Hall after watching him fight? “They are going to say ‘man, that Da’Velle Smith can box. He has long arms and power. Did you see the way he moved his feet? OMG. He has everything. He’s going to be a champion one day.”
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