Honest Goldsmith is burning to get back and ‘right a wrong’

Goldsmith and Coleman battle it out. Picture: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer

NO excuses, no playing the blame game, no sudden revelation about a secret injury.

Bradley Goldsmith has taken ownership of the first loss of his career and simply wants to step back in the ring and “right a wrong”.

In an era when too many fighters trot out a string of, at times, spurious reasons for setbacks, the hugely popular Coventry middleweight’s honesty should be applauded.

It has been just over a month since the 26-year-old lost an epic Midlands title clash with champ Troy Coleman on a huge Resorts World show staged by Boxxer.

With massive support in the arena, Goldsmith, a firm favourite after peeling off 12 straight victories, went for broke too early. Coleman bravely took the stream of punches coming his way and halted his opponent in the seventh of a Rocky style thriller.

And Coleman, a man who has suffered his share of setbacks in a rollercoaster career, was among the first to present the crestfallen fighter with morale-boosting advice.

Props to him,” said Goldsmith who trains at Dominic Ingle’s Sheffield sweatshop. “He has been through ups and downs in his career and that is what he said to me after the fight. All that matters is getting back on track.”

Coleman is right. Goldsmith, who sold a staggering 500 tickets for his arena debut, didn’t fall because of a physical flaw. A glass chin or stamina problem were not the reason for defeat.

He simply got it wrong – and admits that.

“For me to look back and think something like that could never happen throughout my career, I’d be an idiot,” Bradley said.  “The hardest part for me has been realising that.

“I’ve accepted it and understood it for what it is rather than point the finger at people. It is a blip.

“Dom (Dominic Ingle) said he’s seen it happen 1,000 times and he’ll see it happen 1,000 more. I would rather it happened now than at British or European title level.”

Goldsmith, a former outstanding amateur, just wants to get back in the ring and show his true worth.

“I was straight back in the gym,” he said. “All I need is a good four weeks of sparring and I’m good to go. I’d like to be out again in the summer, but if not it will be September.

“Something that has enabled me to accept what happened is the fact I didn’t cut any corners in training. It was a lack of experience on my side, thinking he was more hurt than he actually was. It was lack of experience – pressing down too hard when I didn’t need to because of the way the fight was going.

“It is in the past and all that matters now is how I come back from it. I have nothing to prove to anyone, only myself – learn from it and move on. I know I will come back and have no doubt I will right the wrongs.”

Some positives can be taken from the performance. He and Coleman provided pulsating, edge-of-the-seat entertainment for a national TV audience. That must have made promoters and networks sit-up and take notice. They will want more.

And Goldsmith – as he always does – packed out the place.

He said: “I said I can sell tickets – I did that. I said I could fight – I did that.”

Many, many champions taste defeat on the way to defeat. Goldsmith tasted defeat in an absolute see-saw barnstormer.

For him, it’s a bump in the road, not a car crash.