(Photo Credit: Sebastian Heger) By Scott Gilfoid: WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (41-4, 28 KOs) is promising that challenger Paul Smith (35-4, 20 KOs) will be in for a rough night this Saturday when the two of them battle it out in a rematch at the O2 Arena in Berlin, Germany.
The 32-year-old Smith campaigned long and hard for the rematch after losing a 12 round decision to Abraham last September in Germany. Smith got his rematch, but this time he’s going to have to win if he wants to keep the rematch cycle going. In other words, Smith won’t be able to complain his way to a third fight if he gets beaten by Abraham.
If Smith loses this time, it’s the end of the rematches, because Abraham has bigger and better things he wants to accomplish with what’s left of his career. He doesn’t need to keep fighting guys he beat over and over again just because they complain about their losses.
“My hand will be raised and the title will remain round my waist,” Abraham said at the press conference on Wednesday. “He [Smith] is going to be in for a tough night. I can’t promise a knockout, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to give the fans a spectacular finish.’’
Abraham is going to be a big problem for Smith in this fight due to his massive power, and with the way he likes to throw combos at the end of each round to impress the judges.
If Abraham comes into the fight in better shape than last time, then I can definitely see him scoring a knockout over Smith. Abraham was landing monstrous shots last time around against Smith. The only problem that Abraham had was he didn’t throw enough punches. He was covering up too much instead of letting his hands go for the full three minutes of every round.
Each time that Abraham would stop throwing punches, Smith would open up with his own salvo of shots. The difference here is that Abraham was able to block Smith’s shots with his high clam-shell guard each time.
It was only on rare occasions that Smith was able to get his punches in between or around Abraham’s high guard. For some reason, Smith didn’t have the presence of mind to go to the body of Abraham, even though it was wide open for anything that thrown in that direction.
Like a lot of British fighters, Smith likes to throw mainly head shots rather than going to the body. Smith’s younger brother Callum likes to throw a lot of body shots, but unfortunately Paul Smith doesn’t.
‘’I’m ready and willing to do whatever it takes to get the win,’’ said Smith. ‘’I know I‘ve got what it takes to defeat him. There’s not going to be anything new from him. I’m here to crash the party and prove I belong at the top!’’
When Smith talks of knowing what it takes to defeat him, it kind of leaves you wondering what the heck he’s talking about. I mean, Smith was clearly beaten by Abraham the last time they fought, so I don’t quite understand how Smith knows how to beat Abraham when he in fact lost to him last September in Germany.
If Smith follows the same blue print that he used the last time they fought, Smith will lose again to him. That’s pretty much the extent of it. For Smith to win, he’s got to come up with something different this time.
The last time they went at it, Smith was just looking to throw shots in between Abraham’s punches. For Smith to have a chance of winning, he’s going to need to throw shots at the same time that Abraham does.
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