Callum Smith vs. Hadillah Mohoumadi in WBC 168lb eliminator on April 2

By Boxing News - 02/03/2016 - Comments

smith555By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC Callum Smith (18-0, 13 KOs) will be looking to lock himself into for a world title shot against WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack when he faces Hadillah Mohoumadi (20-3-1, 15 KOs) on April 2 in a WBC 168lb title eliminator at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.

What I don’t understand is why in the heck is Smith being allowed to fight #7 WBC Mohoumadi in a WBC super middleweight eliminator when their are higher ranked contenders like #4 WBC Anthony Dirrell and #6 WBC Andre Dirrell that are getting passed over by the World Boxing Council. What’s up with that? It seems to me that one of the Dirrell brothers should be facing Callum for the WBC eliminator rather than the lower ranked Mohoumadi, who has largely fought obscure opposition during his career with the exception of his fight against James DeGale four years ago in 2012.

It doesn’t mean that the winner of the fight will be getting a shot at Bado’s title in 2016. It just means the winner of the Smith- Mohoumadi fight will be the mandatory challenger to Badou, and they can expect to get a crack at him by 2017 at some point.

Badou could throw the Smith vs. Mohoumadi winner a bone by letting them get a title shot this year, but I wouldn’t expect it. Badou is interested in fighting former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but getting that fight negotiated and scheduled could take next to forever.

Smith, 25, is coming off a career best win in stopping fellow Brit Rocky Fielding in the 1st round last November in Liverpool. Smith hurt Fielding early in the 1st round, and was able to knock him down several times before the fight was eventually halted. Fielding didn’t help himself by choosing to slug after getting initially hurt. It was a bush league move by Fielding, because he should have chosen to hold on and ride out the round rather than exchanging with the 6’4” Smith.

Smith is one of the brothers for former two-time world title challenger Paul Smith. Callum is viewed as the best fighter in the Smith family by many boxing fans. However, Liam Smith, the WBO 154lb champion, is the only Smith brother to win a world title at this point in time. Liam is considered to be a paper champion in the minds of a lot of fans, and not the top dog or even the second or third best fighter in the 154lb division.

I personally rate Liam behind the following junior middleweights: Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, Vanes Martirosyan, Jermell Charlo, Michel Soro, and Anthony Mundine.

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The 35-year-old Mohoumadi has won his last five fights since losing to James DeGale by a 12 round unanimous decision in October 2012. Mohoumadi’s opposition since then has been nothing special. He’s beaten Cedric Bellais, Pawel Glazewski, Raimonds Sniedze, Bartlomiej Grafka, Mariano Hilario and Ericles Torres Marin. I’ve only heart of Glazewski, and I thought he was purely awful in losing to Juergen Braehmer and a shot Roy Jones Jr.

That kind of tells you a little bit about Mohoumadi. The fact that he’s fighting that level of opposition at this advanced stage in his career isn’t a good sign. It tells me that he has next to no chance of beating Callum Smith. I don’t consider Callum a championship level fighter either.

I think he’s a decent contender, but I don’t rate him as someone capable of beating Badou and winning a real world title. But then again with the way the every division is watered down with the possibility of five world titles up for grabs, it’s fairly easy for mediocre fighters to win world titles nowadays. Unfortunately for boxing, it makes the titles kind of meaningless.

I’m not sure if the sanctioning bodies realize what they’ve done by having so many titles available. It’s like having five Super Bowls every year multiple times. If you that kind of thing going on in the NFL, fans would see the Super Bowls as a joke, because it would never tell you who the best overall team is.

Smith will likely have little problems beating Mohoumadi on April 2nd, but it won’t mean much because he’s not facing the best in this fight.



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