Verdell Smith, a.k.a. Tommy Bowles, a.k.a. Tim Brooks (born November 1, 1963) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. Smith, a journeyman fighter, appeared on the front page of the May 10, 2004, edition of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', as he was the focal point of a lengthy article in the Times's sports section on alleged fight fixing.

Professional career

Smith turned professional in 1988 and fought the majority of his fights in Oklahoma and other Midwest states, under his birth name and other boxing aliases. In the article, Smith explained that fighting under assumed names "is what we needed to do, n orderto get paid", and was also quoted as saying: "None of my fights are fixed. I just don't like getting hurt, and I'm not going to risk my brain and my kids to prove anything." Among his notable fights, Smith lost to

Jesse James Leija James Leija (born July 8, 1966), best known as Jesse James Leija, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2005. He held the WBC super featherweight title in 1994, and challenged twice each for world titles at lightwe ...

, Julio César Chávez, and Jorge Páez. The fight with Paez was the subject of a 2004

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

investigation against promoter

Bob Arum Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...

for fight fixing.

Fight fixing allegations

Smith is perhaps best known for his role in the government's attempted crackdown on fight fixing in 2004–2005. Verdell, along with colleagues

Buck Smith Buck Smith (born July 22, 1965) is an American professional boxer in the welterweight division. Although Smith has never been considered more than a journeyman fighter, he is one of boxing's all-time knockout kings with 120 KO's. Professional car ...

and Sean Gibbons, were called upon to give testimony about fixed fights in boxing. The trio was nicknamed the Knucklehead Boxing Club, and traveled throughout the Midwest making frequent appearances on fight cards. The Knucklehead Boxing Club denied any wrongdoing and stated that they did not participate in any fixed fights.

References

External links

* 1963 births Living people Boxers from Oklahoma Welterweight boxers Sportspeople from Oklahoma City American male boxers {{US-boxing-bio-stub