ADAM SMITH has bravely opened up on his battle with cancer, which at times left him in a “dark” place.
The beloved boxing commentator was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of bladder cancer in 2023.
A massive tumour situated next to Smith’s bladder wall left him “about four days” away from death.
A six-hour operation, in which 19 lymph nodes were removed as well as his bladder and prostrate, saved ‘The Voice of Boxing’.
Smith would then undergo three-and-a-half months of gruelling chemotherapy.
And the gruelling toe-to-toe battle with the disease took its toll mentally and physically.
He told DAZN ahead of Tyson Fury‘s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk: “I am very lucky and honoured to be doing this job and watching these fine boxers.
“Whether it is calling a four-round fight between two debutants or a world title fight, I love it all and am grateful to be doing such a job, if you can really call it a job.
“The cancer was brutal, it has been very difficult to fight this disease.
“I had some very dark times and my body has been through hell.”
Smith credits the support of his family for getting him through the fight of his life.
“My doctors saved me, my family brought me back,” he said. “I had three-and-a-half lonely months in hospital undergoing treatment.
“I was very lucky to make it through. I am very lucky to be alive and I have a different perspective on life after what happened to me.
“I wake up in the morning and I am happy, I am not stressed. I am just delighted to have another day.”
Reflecting on his health back in September, Smith told The Independent: “I look healthy, but underneath is a wrecked body.
“I’ve lost major parts of it. A lot of people are in much worse situations, but it’s a tough new life.
“You have tubes at night, it’s not easy. And after the operation, last spring, I got an ileus: my entire body was blocked, food wouldn’t go through for 10 days.
“I lost four stone in weight, then I had a twisted bowel. It all went wrong. I was a mess, I was in agony, I couldn’t move.
“The hardest thing was learning to walk again; I had to sit on a chair in the shower for a couple of months, because I couldn’t stand.
“But my family were unbelievable, Sky were amazing. I still had many, many lonely nights, but I owe everything to my doctors.
“I saw my bladder consultant at the end of last year and I said: ‘I have to be honest, I didn’t think I’d make it.’
He said: ‘I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t think you would either.’”
