By Scott Gilfoid: In a very controversial decision, former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (26-1-1, 14 KOs) defeated the younger and much stronger Liam Williams (16-2-1, 11 KOs) by a 12 round majority decision in their WBO 154lb. title eliminator on Saturday night at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, UK.
The judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114. Boxing News 24 scored it 117-111 for Williams. It was impossible to give Smith more than 3 rounds in the fight, as his shots were too weak, and he was mostly landing pesky jabs and weak hooks. The difference in power between the two was extraordinary. Williams was so much stronger, perhaps even more powerful than Saul Canelo Alvarez. Each time Williams would land a shot, he was knock the graying Smith back a step or two. We’re talking huge power.
In round 10, Williams had Smith hurt a couple of times after nailing him with uppercuts and right hands. Smith made it out of the round, but he looked worn down.
Williams was outworked in in the first 9 rounds of the fight by Smith, but it didn’t matter. The power on Williams’ punches was devastating. You could hear the sound each time Williams would land. Smith did well to take the big shots that he was getting nailed with.
The one negative that hurt Williams in the fight was his work rate. Williams was very tentative in a lot of the rounds, and he let Smith throw more shots without making him pay for it. I still had Williams winning 6 out of the first 9 rounds of the fight due to his big power shots that he was landing. The power was more than enough to give Williams the rounds. I gave Williams rounds 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Smith fought well enough to edge rounds 2, 4 and 7. Those were still very close rounds.
Smith’s win closes the chapter in the Smith-Williams rivalry. Smith has now won both of their fights, and there’s no point in them fighting each other again. With the scoring done in both fights, I don’t see Williams ever being given a decision against Smith unless perhaps they took the fight to a neutral venue. Williams would be better off moving on and fighting other guys, preferably from other countries. Williams should be fighting guys like Jermell Charlo, Jarrell Hurd and Erislandy Lara rather than getting stuck fighting Liam Smith in repeated fights and losing controversial decisions like tonight’s fight.
With Smith’s win, he’s now the WBO mandatory challenger for WBO junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. The Puerto Rican star is expected to retire after his fight next month against Sadam Ali on December 2. It’s unclear whether the World Boxing Organization will then just give the WBO 154lb. title to Smith or have him fight for the vacant belt against the next highest rated contender. Williams will likely get pushed down in the WBO’s rankings after tonight’s loss, so it won’t be him that Smith faces for the vacant WBO title. The next highest ranked contender is Magomed Kurbonov.
Smith could wind up facing Kurbovnov for the vacant WBO title if the sanctioning body doesn’t just give Smith the belt.
The commentators on BT Sport appeared to be watching a different entirely, as they were praising Smith, even in the rounds where he was getting worked over. They were seeing a different fight entirely. I had to turn the sound off after round 6, because they were telling a different story from the one that was taking place inside the ring.