Wallace Smith (boxer)

Wallace "Bud" Smith (April 2, 1924 – July 10, 1973) was a world lightweight boxing champion in 1955, who also competed in the 1948 Olympic Games.

He won Chicago's 1948 lightweight Golden Gloves inter-city tournament with a furious attack against Luis Ortiz, achieving a knockout in 2:45 of the second round.

[2] On August 24, 1949, he defeated Joe Discepoli in a ten-round unanimous decision in Cincinnati to take the USA Ohio State Lightweight Championship.

[1] The win helped Smith earn his much desired title bout against Jimmy Carter, as Zuleta was the number two contender for the lightweight crown at the time.

[4] On June 29, 1955, Smith beat the 4-1 odds against him and defeated 3-time world lightweight champion Jimmy Carter in a fifteen-round split decision at Boston Garden to take the title.

[6] A national TV audience was unable to see the announcement of the final decision, because one of the judges, Joe Blink, had difficulty in adding up his scorecard, in what Sports Illustrated described as "the long, long count" [7] On August 24, 1956, Smith lost his title in an upset to Joe Brown in a fifteen-round split decision in New Orleans.