Services for heavyweight boxer Maurenzo "Tdiddy" Smith will be held at 11 am on August 13, 2022 at the Mount Vernon Baptist Church Inc., 3618 Stassen St., Houston, Texas 77051.

On Wednesday, July 27, Smith was pronounced deceased at a north Houston seafood restaurant after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds while accompanying a 28-year-old woman to meet her 61-year-old husband to finalize an impending divorce. He was 44.

According to local media reports, Smith and the woman, divorce papers in hand, met the husband just before noon at the Crab Station Oyster Bar. After a discussion, the husband left the restaurant but returned about 20 minutes later and opened fire at Smith and the woman with two handguns. The woman escaped unscathed but Smith was hit multiple times. The husband then left the restaurant but when later confronted by police, he exited his Maserati and shot himself in the head. The husband was rushed to the hospital, declared brain dead, placed on life support and died the next day. 

Click2Houston News initially reported that Smith was the woman's boyfriend but Smith's family members later went on ABC 13 and Fox 26 news to dispute that claim, saying he was merely a friend who was there as a mediator to help the woman who was in fear of her spouse. The couple was reportedly married for nine years. 

Smith is survived by his three daughters, son, two sisters and father.

Known endearingly to his friends and gym mates as Toughie, Smith had an unmistakable hearty laugh that reverberated through the Main Boxing Gym in downtown Houston where he trained for most of his career. 

"It's going to be so strange to go to the gym and not see him now," said Lou Savarese, former heavyweight contender and owner of the Main Boxing Gym.

Aaron Navarro was Smith's long-time trainer who had been his chief second in about 20 fights in venues from New York to Los Angeles and even beyond American shores.

"He was like the world's biggest 12 year old," Navarro said. "I never had a boring or un-fun time being around Toughie; I don't think anybody did. He'd have the whole gym laughing before it was all over, no matter what. I was thinking about the number of trips he and I have been on together over the years and I have a lot of really good memories. We had a lot of fun when we weren't working." 

"With Tough, he was a fixture around the Houston scene, a pretty well-known and well-liked guy. He was a real fighter."

Smith's popularity was evident when he fought in his hometown and drew hoards of boisterous fans, many female, to cheer him on.

"He had a huge following," said Savarese who promoted several local cards on which Smith fought. "He'd bring a big crowd so the promoters used to love to put him on."

A look at Smith's record reveals an erratic rollercoaster 18-year career, spanning from 2004-2022, marked by winning and losing streaks. Smith (29-13-4, 22 KOs) fought several big names in the sport including former world titleholders and boxers who would go on to win world titles. Those who knew him and worked with him unanimously agree that he never lived up to his full potential.

"He had a tremendous amount of athletic and physical ability," Navarro said. "He also knew the game of boxing. Some fighters are good fighters but they don't really study boxing or watch a lot of fights. Tough was a student who understood the game. He had a solid career and he fought a lot of real guys too. He actually had the potential to do more than he did. He could punch, he had good feet and good athleticism."

In 2012, Smith was stopped in the first round by Andy Ruiz who, seven years later, would knock out Anthony Joshua for three of the four heavyweight titles in a monumental upset. In 2014, Smith lost by third round TKO to Charles Martin who would capture a vacant Alphabet belt in 2016. In Smith's next fight, he was stopped by Shannon Briggs who previously held the lineal heavyweight championship after controversially outpointing George Foreman in 1997. Other notable names on Smith's resume were Chris Arreola (L-TKO6) and Adam Kownacki (L-KO2).

"He was such a gregarious guy and had so much going on," Savarese said. "I don't know if boxing was his number one priority. He liked it a lot but I'm not sure if he gave it 100 percent. I think he was kind of content being on the perimeter."

In 2021 Smith found a second career wind in Colombia where he was riding an 8-0 (8 KOs) winning streak, against nondescript opponents, before his life was abruptly cut short.

Asked what would come to mind should the name "Toughie" be brought up 20 years from now, Navarro responded: "I'd probably start laughing because the majority of times he was going to get in a room, and before the end of it all everybody would be laughing and chomping it up like that. That's for sure." 

Smith was not the first member of the Houston boxing fraternity to lose his life to gun violence in recent years.

In a Feb. 12, 2019 multiple murder/suicide, former amateur boxing tournament organizer and official Randy Horn shot and killed his wife, infant daughter and both his grandparents-in-law before fatally turning the gun on himself.

On August 15, 2015, former light heavyweight contender Chris Henry, 34, was killed by a gunshot to the chest outside a convenience store in southwest Houston.