By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC Callum Smith (18-0, 13 KOs) dropped Rocky Fielding (21-1, 12 KOs) three times in stopping him in the 1st round to capture the vacant British super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. I thought Fielding beat the count, and I’m not sure why the referee Phil Edwards stopped the fight at 2:45 of the round. I thought Fielding should have been given the benefit of the doubt because he clearly was on his feet when Edwards waived it off.

Smith dropped Fielding twice with left hands to get the stoppage. Fielding needed to keep the action on the outside after he was initially dropped. But instead of using movement or electing to clinch, Fielding fought like an ape in choosing to punch with Smith at close range. It was just a really stupidly fought fight by Fielding.

It looked like Fielding hurt Smith briefly at one point in the round.

The second knockdown came when Fielding charged forward and was nailed with a left hook to the head that send him down on the canvas. Needless to say, it was really sloppy work from Fielding. I mean, he fought like this was the first time that he’d ever been in the ring.

I wasn’t impressed with Smith at all. If he’d been in the ring with someone good like the Dirrell brothers, Badou Jack or Andre Ward, I think Smith would have been totally clowned by those guys. No way do I see Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn letting him anyway near the Dirrell brothers. I just don’t see it happening. The Dirrells would expose a primitive body puncher like Smith in my view.

“This guy has got freakish power,” Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn said after the fight. “This boy is for real. I am sure Callum Smith will go on to win a world title in 2016. I’m going to be attending the WBC convention and pushing for a world title fight for Callum against champion Badou Jack. You’re looking for a future world champion for sure,” Hearn said.

Hearn can push for a world title shot for Smith against Badou Jack, but I think that’s a bad idea because Badou would batter a guy like Smith.

“He’s a good fighter. I’ll give him credit,” Smith said about Fielding. “I’m sure he can go away and come back.”

***

Former two division world champion Ricky Burns (39-5-1, 13 KOs) defeated little known #10 WBO Josh King (20-4, 9 KOs) by an 11th round knockout on Saturday night to captured the vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title.

Burns dropped King with a left to the body in the 11th that put King on all fours. He was then countered out by referee Marcus McDonnell 54 seconds into the 11th.

Burns was docked 1 point in the 10th round for using his head to push against King to force him against the ropes. Burns had been using this Billy Goat approach the entire fight with his head, and it’s surprising that it took this long for the referee to finally take a point off. For his part, King had a point deducted in the 4th round for hitting after McDonnell told him to stop punching.

It wasn’t a good performance from Burns, who fought the much shorter 5’5 1/2″ King’s fight by choosing to battle it out on the inside in throwing body shots instead of using his 5 inch height advantage to fight on the outside.

After the fight, Burns was barely understandable when giving an interview. He sounded like he might have taken a punch to the throat or something because he was croaking like a frog when interviewed. From what I could understand of his English, he said “I’m not disappointed but I could have done better. I’m just taking one fight at a time.”

The win will likely give Burns a top 15 ranking with the WBO, which could help him get a title shot against WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan. As bad as Burns looked tonight, I wouldn’t recommend Burns fighting Flanagan. Burns doesn’t look like he’s in Flanagan’s class. If this had been Flanagan in the ring tonight against King instead of Burns, I think King would have been halted in the 1st or 2nd round.

Other boxing results –

Scott Cardle TKO 12 Sean Dodd
Tom Doran KO 3 Rod Smith
Ohara Davies RTD 2 Chris Truman
Marc Leach pts 4 Ian Halsall
Warren Baister TKO 1 Attila Gyen
Ryan Mulcahy KO 1 Ross Roberts