The early stages of any professional boxing career represent a steep learning curve and for Ben Smith the experience has been no different.

The super-lightweight fighter came through a testing bout in Bethnal Green against Dan Carr to make it two wins from two in his fledgling professional career on Friday night.

Smith was content with his efforts on a night that he claimed was as much about getting experience as winning, after he took the win on a points decision by a score of 40-36.

“It was a massive learning fight for me. I’ve watched it back and I am actually quite happy with my performance,” Smith said.

“This guy wasn’t going to win the fight but he gave it more of a go than Kristian Laight did in my first fight so he put more doubts in my head.

“It is a good experience to have in my locker because next time I go out there to fight I will know how to deal with the expectation a bit better.”

While smith looked comfortable throughout, and landed a number of impressive shots, he was made to work for his win.

The 19-year-old claimed he was aware that Carr, a journeyman of over 80 career loses, may use some underhand tactics heading into the fight.

The High Wycombe fighter felt he took a number of shots to the back of his head. An experience he again claimed would stand him in good stead in the future.

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Carr is led away by the referee as Smith watches on

“I was expecting him to come forward and fight a little bit, but I didn’t expect him to do it as much as he did and I thought I would handle it better,” said Smith.

“I know that I need to not get frustrated when those sorts of things (hits to the back of the head) are going on now, and I know how to hold myself if people do fight like that.

“I was looking away from him and looking at the crowd because I wanted to show that I was alright. My coach pulled me back and told me I can’t do that and I had to block out the crowd.”

With the fight against Carr now well and truly consigned to the past Smith’s focus has turned to his next bout.

He was expecting to be fighting on the undercard at the Olympic Park’s Copper Box Arena in March, but a failure to find a suitable headline fight has seen those plans scuppered.

His return to the ring is now pencilled in for April and the youngster can take advantage of having an extra month of preparation for the third fight of his career.

No opponent has been picked as of yet but Smith, who says his training will remain intense despite the longer gap between fights, is expecting his trainer, Mark Tibbs, to pick another tough challenger.

“It will be another journeyman and another learning fight. I think Mark might ask for another tough fight which will help me learn more,” explained Smith.

“The more I learn in these early fights when it is safe the better, and the more experience I can have when I go into my first 50/50 fight the better prepared I will be to deal with it.”

Smith concluded by thanking any fans who came down to watch Friday's fight and said their support was hugely appreciated.