By Scott Gilfoid: British super middleweight champion Paul Smith (29-1, 15 KO’s) is facing a living nightmare in unbeaten James DeGale (8-0, 6 KO’s) on December 11th at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, England. Smith, 28, has looked mediocre in his past two fights against Tony Quigley and Tony Dodson.

Smith, talking to the Liverpoolecho.co.uk, said “DeGale can expect an all-out war because I will not be holding back or feeling sorry for him.” Smith and DeGale are friends and have known each other for a long time now.

However, Smith is really over his head in this fight and really out of his league. It really doesn’t matter how much of a war he tries to make it, Smith won’t win because he doesn’t throw combinations, doesn’t have any hand speed and is clumsy in the ring in terms of balance.

It seems like Smith can’t take two steps without falling forward into a clinch. This is going to be one of those epic slaughters of all time, kind of like watching a war time massacre. Smith just doesn’t have the physical and athletic tools to compete with a talent like DeGale.

This is about different levels. Smith is a decent domestic fighter whereas DeGale is a world level star heading for bigger things in the near future. This is where DeGale is going to put Smith in his place and show him where he belongs.

This is going to be a worse beating than the one Steven Bendall put on Smith in 2008. Smith really got spanked in that fight, and as you’ll notice, Smith never attempted to get revenge for the loss. He probably would have been beaten again.