Solly Smith

Solomon Garcia Smith was an American professional boxer in the featherweight division. He was a World Featherweight champion and is the first world champion of Hispanic descent.

Early life

Smith was born in Los Angeles, the son of a Mexican mother and an Irish father. He was an outstanding long-distance track runner in his youth, which may have later aided his ability to endure long boxing bouts.

Professional career

Solomon Garcia Smith made his professional debut in 1888 at the age of 17. In his 21st bout on September 25, 1893, he challenged future hall of famer George Dixon for the World Featherweight Championship but was defeated by seventh-round tko. The fight drew the largest paying crowd recorded at Brooklyn's Coney Island Athletic Club. After the bout, Smith was arrested for participating in a fight with Johnny Griffin in Roby, Indiana, two months earlier. Wyatt Earp had been the timekeeper.
He improved his skills in subsequent bouts and established himself as one of the top fighters in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, fighting to draws against future hall of fame member Young Griffo and future two-division champion Frank Erne, along with scoring quality wins over opponents such as former champion Torpedo Billy Murphy and avenging a disqualification loss to Oscar Gardner.

World Featherweight Championship

The crowning moment of Smith's career came on October 4, 1897, when he defeated George Dixon in a rematch bout to capture the World Featherweight title, thus ending the Canadian champion's six-year reign. The San Francisco Call wrote of Smith's performance: "Instead of swinging wild and recklessly, as he was wont to do in his early fighting days, he gauged his distance and timed his blows like a polished veteran. His quick ducking under the left arm of his opponent to avoid a jaw warmer was a revelation to his admirers, who repeatedly cheered him when he escaped the hot shots aimed at the jaw point by Professor Dixon"
Smith was seen as a promising champion, having avenged losses to two of the three men who held victories over him up to that point, Dixon and Gardner, with the third being reigning lightweight champion and future hall of fame member Kid Lavigne who had outpointed Smith in an eight round contest. However, after twice retaining his title, he relinquished it due to a mishap against Dave Sullivan. Smith had the misfortune to break his left arm near the wrist in the second round of their bout, ending his chances to give a good showing. Unable to use his left at all in the fourth and fifth rounds, he was deemed unable to continue.
His career took a downward spiral following that loss as he won only one out of the fifteen remaining bouts in his career. He retired after a knockout loss to Billy Snailham in 1904.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec, unless otherwise stated.

Official Record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted as a win, loss or draw.

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Age	Location	Notes
66	Loss	29–13–20	Billy Snailham	KO	3	Aug 26, 1904		Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
65	Loss	29–12–20	Billy DeCoursey	KO	10	Nov 11, 1902		Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
64	Loss	29–11–20	Kid McFadden	DQ	7	Sep 5, 1901		Oak Park, Sacramento, California, U.S.
63	Draw	29–10–20	Joe Bernstein	PTS	20	Jun 18, 1901		Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
62	Draw	29–10–19	Joe Bernstein	PTS	20	May 10, 1900		Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
61	Loss	29–10–18	Joe Bernstein	DQ	14	Jun 22, 1900		Broadway A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
60	Win	29–9–18	Billy Maynard	KO	10	May 28, 1900		Sampson A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
59	Draw	28–9–18	Turkey Point Billy Smith	PTS	6	Mar 17, 1900		Tattersall's, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
58	Loss	28–9–17	Billy Barrett	PTS	20	Mar 3, 1900		Greenwood A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
57	Draw	28–8–17	Frank Patterson	PTS	25	Jan 15, 1900		Hercules A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
56	Loss	28–8–16	Jack McClelland	DQ	6	Oct 2, 1899		Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
55	Loss	28–7–16	Joe Bernstein	KO	13	Aug 18, 1899		Broadway A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
54	Draw	28–6–16	Frank Patterson	PTS	25	Jul 10, 1899		Coney Island A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
53	Draw	28–6–15	Frank Patterson	PTS	20	May 20, 1899		Greenwood A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
52	Loss	28–6–14	Oscar Gardner	KO	6	Feb 7, 1899		Lenox A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.	Featherweight Championship of America
51	Loss	28–5–14	Dave Sullivan	TKO	5	Sep 26, 1898		Greater New York A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.	Lost world featherweight title
50	Draw	28–4–14	Tommy White	PTS	25	Aug 1, 1898		Greater New York A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.	Retained world featherweight title
49	Win	28–4–13	Billy O'Donnell	DQ	7	Jul 7, 1898		Olympic A.C., Buffalo, New York, U.S.	Retained world featherweight title
48	Draw	27–4–13	Eddie Santry	PTS	6	Apr 18, 1898		Tattersall's, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
47	Win	27–4–12	George Dixon	PTS	20	Oct 4, 1897		Woodward's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, U.S.	Won world featherweight title
46	Win	26–4–12	Johnny Griffin	KO	7	Aug 20, 1897		Woodward's Pavilion, San Francisco, California, U.S.
45	Win	25–4–12	Martin Flaherty	PTS	25	May 4, 1897		Broadway A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
44	Win	24–4–12	Oscar Gardner	PTS	20	Mar 13, 1897		Broadway A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
43	Draw	23–4–12	Tommy White	PTS	25	Jan 12, 1897		Bohemian Sporting Club, New York City, New York, U.S.
42	Win	23–4–11	Willie Smith	TKO	8	Nov 9, 1896		National Sporting Club, Covent Garden, London, England, U.K.	Billed world 118lbs title
41	Draw	22–4–11	Johnny Lavack	PTS	10	Jun 30, 1896		Red Cross Rink, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
40	Win	22–4–10	Frank Patterson	PTS	10	Jun 22, 1896		Eastern A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
39	Draw	21–4–10	Dolly Lyons	PTS	10	Jun 1, 1896		South Brooklyn A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
38	Win	21–4–9	Jerry Barnett	TKO	5	Mar 21, 1896		Grand Central Palace, New York City, New York, U.S.	Police intervened
37	Draw	20–4–9	Johnny Lavack	PTS	15	Feb 22, 1896		West Newton Street Armory, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
36	Win	20–4–8	Torpedo Billy Murphy	TKO	14	Dec 23, 1895		Olympic Club, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.	Police intervened
35	Win	19–4–8	George Siddons	UD	8	May 15, 1895		Manhattan A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.
34	Win	18–4–8	Jack Mullen	PTS	6	Apr 11, 1895		Leland Opera House, Albany, New York, U.S.
33	ND	17–4–8	Jerome Quigley	ND	4	Mar 22, 1895		Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
32		17–4–8	Billy McCarthy	ND	4	Mar 16, 1895		Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
31	Draw	17–4–8	Tom Denny	PTS	10	Mar 4, 1895		Seaside A.C., Coney Island, New York, U.S.
30	Loss	17–4–7	Oscar Gardner	DQ	5	Nov 27, 1894		Buffalo A.C., Buffalo, New York, U.S.	Smith was DQ'd for punching Gardner while he was down
29	Draw	17–3–7	Johnny Van Heest	PTS	15	Oct 26, 1894		Buffalo A.C., Buffalo, New York, U.S.
28	Draw	17–3–6	Frank Erne	PTS	10	Oct 2, 1894		Liedertafel Hall, Buffalo, New York, U.S.
27	Draw	17–3–5	George "Kid" Lavigne	PTS	8	Mar 7, 1894		Arbeiter Hall, Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.	Pre-arranged draw if lasting the distance
26	Draw	17–3–4	Young Griffo	PTS	6	Jan 3, 1894		Tivoli Theater, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
25	Win	17–3–3	Dan Ryan	DQ	4	Dec 1, 1893		Tivoli Theater, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
24	Win	16–3–3	Jimmy Murphy	KO	2	Nov 13, 1893		Tattersall's, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
23	Loss	15–3–3	George Dixon	TKO	7	Sep 25, 1893		Coney Island A.C., New York City, New York, U.S.	Lost world featherweight title claim; For world featherweight title
22	Win	15–2–3	Johnny Griffin	KO	4	Jul 10, 1893		Columbian Athletic Club, Roby, Indiana, U.S.	Won world featherweight title claim
21	Loss	14–2–3	Oscar Gardner	KO	6	Jun 10, 1893		Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
20	Loss	14–1–3	Oscar Gardner	PTS	6	May 8, 1893		Phoenix A.C., Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
19	Win	14–0–3	Frankie McHugh	NWS	6	Apr 15, 1893		2nd Regiment Armory, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
18	Win	14–0–3	Johnny Van Heest	KO	14	Dec 29, 1892		California A.C., San Francisco, California, U.S.
17	Draw	13–0–3	George Siddons	PTS	56	Sep 29, 1892		California A.C., San Francisco, California, U.S.
16	Win	13–0–2	Dan Daly	KO	3	Jul 8, 1892		Pacific A.C., San Francisco, California, U.S.
15	Win	12–0–2	Dal Hawkins	KO	13	May 24, 1892		California A.C., San Francisco, California, U.S.	A finish fight
14	Win	11–0–2	Harry Dally	PTS	4	Mar 30, 1892		California A.C., San Francisco, California, U.S.
13	Win	10–0–2	Tommy Smith	KO	2	Feb 25, 1892		New Cribb A.C., Los Angeles, California, U.S.
12	Win	9–0–2	Danny Mahoney	KO	15	Dec 3, 1891		Pastime A.C., Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Won vacant featherweight Championship of the Coast
11	Win	8–0–2	Billy Manning	KO	6	Aug 27, 1891		Pastime A.C., Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Won vacant bantamweight championship of Southern California
10	Draw	7–0–2	Dave Williams	PTS	10	Sep 3, 1890		Pasadena, California, U.S.
9	Win	7–0–1	Young Abbott	PTS	4	Dec 5, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Exact date unknown
8	Win	6–0–1	Billy Jones	TKO	13	Dec 1, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Exact date unknown
7	Win	5–0–1	Pete Cummings	TKO	1	Nov 1, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.
6	Win	4–0–1	Young Billy Moore	TKO	5	Oct 1, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Exact date unknown
5	Win	3–0–1	Young Billy Moore	PTS	?	Sep 1, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Exact date and decision unknown
4	Win	2–0–1	Jack Golden	KO	2	Jun 1, 1889		Los Angeles, California, U.S.
3		1–0–1	Joe 'Kid' Hogan	NC	29	Dec 12, 1888		Sacramento, California, U.S.	LA Times Feb 25, 1892 reported this as 32-round draw
2	Draw	1–0–1	Joe Soto	PTS	6	Aug 1, 1888		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Exact date unknown
1	Win	1–0	Billy Smith	TKO	7	Jul 1, 1888		Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Professional debut; Exact date unknown; Not to be confused with Mysterious Billy Smith