Mitchell Smith issued with UKAD ban after adverse findings returned

Mitchell Smith banned for three months after adverse findings returned in UKAD test

"The Baby Faced Assassin" Mitchell Smith (18-1, 10 KOs) has been punished by UKAD with a three-month ban from boxing following adverse findings in a post-fight drugs test after his victory over unbeaten Arnie Dawson in October 2025.

"The Essex Terminator" Dawson was down in the first round from a right to the head, eventually losing the 10-round WBO European lightweight contest via unanimous decision, which has now been overturned to a No Contest. The change of result doesn't revert the 23-year-old back to unbeaten status because he lost in March to Steven Cairns.

The banned substance that returned Smith's adverse test is not being ruled as performance enhancing following an investigation. UKAD will release their findings in May.

Smith is now aged 33, currently in his second stint as a pro. The Harrow talent was flying in his pro boxing career until he was humbled one night in December 2015 by underdog George Jupp, who boxed superbly to halt the rising star's expeditious ascendency with a unanimous decision win in their the WBO Inter-Continental super-featherweight contest.

He teamed up with Adam Booth and banked a brace of routine wins, but then a pub brawl saw him arrested in 2017 and remanded in prison for seven months, signalling the end of his once-promising career.

It was five years and one day later when he made his return to the ring in May 2022, after much soul-searching, weight-loss, and a few white-collar bouts to shake off the ringrust.

He managed to get straight back to winning ways, stopping Petar Aleksandrov in his comeback fight in the fifth of six rounds in nearby Watford, then winning another two bouts at the York Hall, his former stomping ground. His last fight with Dawson was the first time Smith had competed twice within the same calendar year since 2015.

But now his journey has come to a grinding halt once more. With such a short term ban of approximately 90 days, this time it won't be another five years before he gets back in the ring, but the negative news and further setback to a stop-start career can never be good.

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