(Photo Credit: Sebastian Hagler) By Scott Gilfoid: Well, you can’t say #5 WBO Paul Smith (35-3, 20 KOs) is over-matched in every department against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (40-4, 28 KOs) ahead of their fight next month on September 27th at the Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
The 5’11” Smith is two inches taller than the 5’9” Abraham, so that at least gives Smith one thing in his favor for this fight. But unfortunately, everything else is pretty much stacked in Abraham’s favor.
Abraham’s stronger, faster, better chin, more experienced, better defensive fighter, better coached and just the overall more talented guy. Smith has height advantage, but his reach is exactly the same as Abraham’s at 72”. This could mean that Smith’s height won’t be a factor in the fight because Abraham will have the reach to hit him at all times.
“It’s great that Smith is bringing so many fans to Kiel,” Abraham said at today’s kick-off press conference. ‘”English fans always create a good atmosphere – even when they know their fighter will lose. This will be my fourth fight in Kiel and my fourth victory. Anybody who wants to celebrate with me on September 27 should get their tickets now before they sell out.’’
“It’s a dream come true to finally get my chance to fight for a world title,” said Smith. “I would like to thank Team Sauerland and my promoter Eddie Hearn for making this happen. I have a lot of fans traveling over to watch me become world champion and they won’t be disappointed.”
It’s still hard to understand why Abraham’s management chose the 31-year-old Smith to fight instead of someone far more talented than him, because they could have literally selected 20-30 games that would bring more to the table in terms of talent, but they chose Smith instead.
All I can think is that they wanted Abraham to get a title-milking fight the same way that Danny Garcia’s management chose Rod Salka to fight instead of a good fighter. Smith has won his last four fights after getting knocked out in the 2nd round three years ago by George Groves, but the opposition that Smith has faced in those last 4 fights has been lacking to say the least. S
mith has beaten the following fighters in the last two years: Tommy Tolan (4-12-1), Tony Dodson (29-7-1), Jamie Ambler (10-52), and David Sarabia (7-3-2). If you look at those records closely, you’ll see a whole bunch of losses and just a smattering of wins. I mean, these are the kinds of guys that Smith should have been fighting in his first year as a pro, not his 10th year.
A pro of 10 years should be fighting far, far better opposition than that, shouldn’t they? Just based on the guys that Smith been wasting time with, Abraham made a strange choice in selecting him instead of a fighter with more on the ball.
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