Few Bones Crushed as Smith Wins : Boxing: Former heavyweight champion, 38, knocks out Odom in the third round after a shaky start.

James (Bonecrusher) Smith, battered by an overmatched Kimmuel Odom for two rounds, finally took charge in a wild third round at the Forum Monday night and knocked out Odom before 5,531. Smith is 38 now, and carrying an unsightly 250 pounds, but the former heavyweight champion showed what power boxing can do when you need it the most.

For slightly more than two rounds, Smith was looking a bit silly against a blubbery, 238-pound Odom, who came in with a 12-5 record.

A powder-puff puncher, Odom unexpectedly went on the attack early, and his hit-and-run game had Smith confused and wobbling at several points in the first two rounds.

Smith nearly fell down early in the second round after a soft left-right combination by Odom, but that was as far as Odom’s marshmallow punch would take him.

Smith unloaded with 13 unanswered blows, finally dropping Odom in a neutral corner. He was up for a standing-eight count by referee Gwen Adair.

Smith knocked Odom down again seconds later. Finally, Odom’s knees were buckled by a long right hand, and Smith finished him with a sweeping left hook at 2:37 of the third.

As a fight, it wasn’t much. But maybe it should get an asterisk; no one could remember a heavyweight bout with a total tonnage of 488 pounds refereed by a 5-foot-6, 130-pound woman.

Smith (27-8) already has an asterisk. He is still the only heavyweight champion with a college degree (Shaw University, North Carolina). He wants another chance at Mike Tyson, to whom he lost his piece of the heavyweight title in 1987. Or George Foreman. Or Razor Ruddock, to whom he also lost, last year. And please, no more Kimmuel Odoms.

“He was an awkward, crazy kind of guy,” Smith said afterward.

“I never knew what he was going to do. He thumbed me in the first round. I got him with a good body shot early in the third and that kind of discouraged him.”

Smith, who lives in Lillington, N.C., and trains at nearby Ft. Bragg, earned $12,000. Odom got $6,000.

Smith figures that if he fights monthly for another 12 or 18 months--and keeps winning--his phone will ring for one more big payday, like the $800,000 he earned for the ’87 Tyson fight.

Also Monday night, Ysaias Zamudio of Blythe scored a decision victory over Mexico’s Francisco Montiel in a lively flyweight fight, and junior-welterweight Liasu Braimoh of Nigeria and Las Vegas posted a decision victory over Danny Perez of Paramount.

The Zamudio-Montiel fight was the card’s best bout, an evenly matched fight pitting two flyweights who had fought to a Forum draw June 17.

Each took turns pressing the action Monday. Although Zamudio (24-3-1) failed to take full advantage of a superior jab, he did seem to possess more power. However, he never really had Montiel (24-10-2) in serious trouble.

All three judges had Zamudio winning, by margins of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113.

Perez-Braimoh was a battle of unbeatens. All three judges had Braimoh winning by 98-92, boosting him to 13-0 and dropping Perez to 11-1.