Matt Davies

Super-middleweight Germaine Brown says he is not underestimating Sam Smith as the two prepare to go head-to-head for the Southern Area title later this month.

The 25-year-old is looking to make the most of his unexpected shot at the title, after he was originally set to fight a title eliminator, while Smith was due to fight Anthony Fox for the vacant strap.

However, a back injury to Fox curtailed that bout, meaning Brown is set to face the Swindon fighter on Neilson Boxing’s Fight Town III show in Swindon on Saturday 30 November.

Brown admits there is a slight disparity in terms of experience between the himself and Smith, and says the late call up won’t be a problem for him or his team.

“We were looking to get a fight for an eliminator anyway so it hasn’t been short notice at all really,” he said.

“We are all about staying active and boxing regularly so we were looking to have a fight before the end of the year anyway, so when we found out it kind of worked perfectly.

“I’m really looking forward to the fight as it is my first title fight. I’m also hoping that it means once we get the win we can move onto bigger fights.

“Every fight is important so I’ll take it the same as any other fight.”

Looking at his opponent, Brown says he isn’t too familiar with Smith but is expecting a tough encounter with Paddy Fitzpatrick’s man.

Brown’s stablemate, Kirk Garvey, has previously faced Smith in a Southern Area eliminator at light-heavyweight and the 25-year-old says he plans to pick Garvey’s brains about how to approach him.

“I don’t know too much about Sam. I know he is a good boxer, he’s very tall, rangy and he had a good amateur career,” he added.

“As a professional I think he has had some tough fights already so. I think it’s a proper 50-50 fight, I look forward to it because that’s what I got into boxing for.

“I wanted tough fights, and I’ve got one so I’m looking forward to it.

“Because he is a tall guy we’ve been working on my range and not his.

“Kirk has boxed Smith already and we train in the same gym so I’m definitely going to talk to him about what things worked well for him, I want to get as much as possible from Kirk.”