Paul Smith not worried about Arthur Abraham rematch

By Boxing News - 02/14/2015 - Comments

smithBy Scott Gilfoid: #4 WBO Paul Smith (35-4, 20 KOs) isn’t worried about his rematch next Saturday night on February 21st against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (41-4, 28 KOs) at the O2 World Arena, Kreuzberg, in Berlin, Germany.

Smith feels confident that he’ll be able to go into Berlin and take Abraham’s WBO title from him despite the fact that he feels that he was robbed last September in his fight against Abraham in Germany.

While some boxing fans feel that Smith was robbed in that fight, many others think that it was a fairly easy night for Abraham with him getting the better of Smith in all 12 rounds of the fight.

Smith feels that the preparation for him for the rematch has been easier for him than it was for their first fight last year. Because of that, Smith thinks he’s going to beat Abraham and pull off an upset in the process. I wish I could agree with Smith, but I just can’t.

Smith doesn’t have the power, hand speed and talent to do what guys like Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell did to Abraham in the Super Six tournament. Smith’s lack of upper level talent is precisely why he struggled so badly against Abraham last year. I mean, Smith fought reasonably well in most of the rounds, but he did just enough to lose the rounds instead of winning them.

“I am flying out to take on Arthur Abraham and there is absolutely no pressure on me. None at all,” Smith said via Skysports.com. “Yes, I am fighting for a world title. Yes, I am out in Germany. Yes, the countdown is really on now, but I am being honest when I tell you that for all the hard graft and preparation, this is nothing compared to the first fight.”

Smith not being worried about going into Germany to face Abraham doesn’t mean that he’s going to win that fight. It just means that he’s going to be walking into the place with not being prepared as he was last time.

Smith should be worried about this fight because he doesn’t have the same kind of talent that Abraham does. If he’s not worried, the that tells me that he’s not taking the fight seriously enough.

“This time I’m thinking I am taking on a guy I beat last time. And I know I can beat him again this time,” Smith said.

I don’t know how Smith is going to be able to beat Abraham this time, because at no time did I see Smith as getting the better of Abraham the last time they fought each other.

I gave Smith only one round last time, and I can’t see him being able to do any better this time around because of his lack of punching power and hand speed. I see Smith as not even being at the level of Robert Stieglitz, a fighter that Abraham had fought three separate times in the past.

I think Abraham has an excellent chance of scoring a knockout this time around by catching Smith with a big shot and then finishing him off by punching his lights out.

Abraham obviously knows that unless he knocks Smith out this time, he’s going to be leaving himself open to Smith complaining again that he got robbed. That’s why I see Abraham planning on knocking Smith out to make sure that he doesn’t bellyache afterwards.



Comments are closed.