DAVID A. INFANTE/PURA SAL FILMS
24-year-old rising boxing star Da’Velle Smithis wants to earn all the comparisons he’s getting to an all-time great.
On Friday, October 18th, Smith, the 9-0 boxer training out of the legendary Kronk gym who has been compared to Detroit boxing legend Tommy Hearns, will face off against Abel Nicolas Adriel, which will take place at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan, P..R
Brobible spoke to Smith ahead of his fight, and he tells us he’s honored by all the Hearns comparisons that have come his way early in his career.
“It’s definitely an honor being compared to the great Tommy Hearns. Sometimes I feel as if I don’t deserve it because he does so much for the sport and I’ve done so little at this point. One day I’ll get to where he is at or he was at, at some point.
“I’m glad that the fans could see me and put that, you know, that I wouldn’t call it a ceiling., but that potential that they believe that I could have to be a great like that.”
While the Hearns comparisons has drawn eyeballs towards him, Smith doesn’t feel pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations.
“No, I don’t feel any pressure. I never feel pressure as far as things go like that. Like I said, I always just do me focus on myself and what I’m doing. And at the end of the day, if I work hard there’s great things to come.”
Being 24 and coming out of Michigan, Smith grew up watching Floyd Mayweather before being turned on to other legends in the sport.
“When I was 12-13, it was all Floyd Mayweatherr Muhammad Ali Roy Jones.”
“As I got older though and once I got under the Kronk background after I turned 18, I was training with SugarHill (Steward)”
“He kinda molded that Tommy Hearns thing into me subconsciously because that’s the Kronk style at the end of the day, you know, and the right hand came, the footwork came, the head movement is what we was working on at the time.”
Training out of Kronk gym, Smith hopes to one day have his picture up on the wall with the other boxing greats.
“There are a lot of great champions that come from the Kronk gym and looking on the walls and seeing the pictures of them.”
“It’s a lot of motivation, and it makes you feel like, you know, one day you will be on that wall if you work hard for it.”
On Friday night, Smith hopes to put on a show for the fans so that they can remember his name.
“I wanna give the fans something to look at something to tune into. So that’s what you should expect from Dave Smith every time you see me up.”